Comments on: How to mail merge from Excel to Word

Mail Merge from Excel to Word can be a real time-saver when it comes to sending large mailings. This tutorial provides an overview of the main features and explains how to do a mail merge from Excel to Word step-by-step. Continue reading →

Comments page 4. Total comments: 151

  1. I have an excel document with a list of users and their assigned line managers. I want to send each line manager 1 email with all their associated users. How can I do this in mail merge, with a rule? Or do I need to concatenate the users into one cell for each line manager? Help!

  2. Hi, I'm merging an excel doc to word, but after I merge the information it changes color. So I'm trying to figure our how to prevent that. Please help!

  3. Hi, I have done my mail merge however when I click Preview Results is not work. I can't see any preview. If I click edit individual letters then I only can see the output. Pls advise.

  4. I have an excel spreadsheet with all my info on there is one mailmerge that I can not get right. in cell A1 I have a time as 7:00 am in cell B1 I have end time as 8:00 pm in cell C1 should be the total of 13 hrs. cell A and cell B are formatted as time 1:30 cell C is formatted as custom h:mm and shows as 13:00 but when I merge this info to my word document the 13:00 shows as 1 hr. it works with anything under 12 hrs but over 12 hrs it only come out with 1 hr for 13 2 hrs for 14 hrs. like it does not recongnize anything over 12 hours. help please

  5. I have an advanced question regarding a e-mail merge with an excel spreadsheet. I created the e-mail merge document with a table that is showing purchases from multiple suppliers down the left side of the table and the two columns are broken down by customer purchase amounts. I have been able to bring all of the column information into the mail merge, however I want each customers mail merge table to total can you help me?

  6. If some of my excel sheet cells formatted with different colors can I transferred such data with same color in Word through Mail Merge? Is that possible?

    Regards
    Shehbaz

  7. Is there a possible to import the contents of a large excel sheet into a word document table? The word doc has 2 columns in layout.

    How do you get the mail merge function to pick all the other row data after populating the first row? The <> seems to publish into a new second page and not the second row of the created table

  8. I am having 1065 details of my 45 branches and I need to send mails for 45 branches with the details in single mail for single branch with multiple lines. Currently I am sending around 1065 mails in a month. Help me to solve this. Expecting your reply.

  9. I have completed the mail merge as per your instruction. However, there seems to be a constriction on the number of columns and I am not able to increase the number of columns. Moreover, when I choose the option Insert Merge Fields it reflects ""Automergefield and this is restricted to a maximum of 8 fields.My question is how to increase the number of fields for that corresponding excel sheet.

  10. I am preparing a mail merge for a mailing to parents concerning their child's fees and fines. Each child' list is unique to them and some contain several different items. I am able to address the letter and insert the first line of fees but need to have all the fees listed and the total.

    Thank you!

  11. I TRY TO MAKE MULTI APPLICATION FORM IN WORD WITH USING EXCEL DATA BASE,

    I confuse in one format / formula

    i want to write name in table box (in word) from data base source (excel)

    i use this formula =mid(A1,2,1) but this taking tomuch time and not see proper.

    problem exp.

    in excel (source) :

    A B
    1 CODE : CUST. NAME
    2 00001 : RAJESHKUMAR PATEL
    3 32540 : RAJ KUMAR PATEL

    and i want to write in word (but in name box, like [R|A|J|E|S|H|K|U|M|A|L| |P|A|T|E|L|

    So tell me how to do this

    i waiting for your reply....

  12. Your information is so helpful, thank you. I am working on a merge document using Office Home & Student 2013 & Windows 8.1. Why do only 255 characters appear in my Word document text field when there is double that amount of data in my Excel spreadsheet. The data is formatted as "text" in Excel. Is there a maximum amount of data in either Word or Excel, and if so, can I override it? Thanks.

    1. Hello, Linda,

      Unfortunately this is a limitation set for Text in Excel. Please try to split your data to several cells and join them again after Mail merging.

      1. Thats not the whole truth:
        "Word looks at the data in the first record in the datasource in order to decide what you need. I suspect that some of your fields are merging OK because they have more than 256 characters in the first record. Edit the first record so that it has more than 256 characters in any fields that are long for some records." Kimberly from MSOfficeForum

  13. Hi Svetlana,
    I'm trying to create a 2007 Word mail merge document from a 2007 Excel file to use to print labels on an Avery 8160 label sheet which contains 30 labels (3 columns & 10 rows). But I can only get the top row of data and the bottom row of each page of the label to display the excel list data. All rows and columns of the entire excel file display as I go through the mail merge setup prompts, but just will not fully merge and display as expected on the label. Any thoughts?
    Thank you.

    Dave

  14. Hi. Thank you so much for tutorial. I mail merge infrequently and find your website very helpful.
    I have to mail merge an agenda with different breakout groups.
    In my excel, I have the breakouts in different colours (eg: Red (in red font), Blue (in Blue font) etc)
    How can I ensure the merge keeps their actual colours eg: Reg is in red, Blue is in blue colour?

    obviously each person has a different breakout group schedule to another person. So it is not possible to change font colour individually ...it will drive me crazy (6 breakouts x 70 people).
    Many thanks
    Sandy

    1. Hello, Sandy,

      The point is that mail merge works with the Data source and doesn't import the formatting from Excel.

  15. I am trying to pull an amount such as AUD 190,000 over from an excel sheet using mail merge but it is showing AUD190,000 without the space between the AUD and the 190,000. Is there a switch I should use? It is showing properly in the excel cell. Thanks!

    1. Hello, Paige,

      Please try to use a custom formatting. Format Cells -> Custom.

  16. Hi Svetlana,

    congratulations tutorial.
    when using mail merge fields in Word I appear in many places. Database excell values ​​are 2 decimal places in my Word file appears with 13 decimal places . This appeared today use much mail goes but there were no problems . thank you

  17. Hi,
    Is it possible for mail merge to pick up formulas like vlookups?

    1. Hello, Andrew,

      You can use Excel tables with VLOOKUP columns for Mail merge.

  18. I am stumped! I bought a mailing list (in an excel spreadsheet) and I'm mail merging with Word on to labels--and everything looks great EXCEPT I have 5 rows (+1 label) blank in the middle of every page.
    It doesn't seem to matter which spreadsheet I use as my data source, I still get the blank labels. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

  19. I have an excel database from which I produce numerous different documents in word. When I select certain records from the recipient list in excel to use in a merge in a word document (usually not in consecutive order), what I end up with is the last record in my selection. I then have to scroll back through the end result in order to print the records I initially chose. If I'm given the option to select certain records from the recipient list, why do I get the extra records in my merge result and not the specific ones I chose?

  20. Thanks...
    In this tutorial very easily the whole function have been described.

  21. Hi,

    I'm trying to mail merge two different values to one checkbox so that if the values 1 or 3 is in excel it would check the box in word. Any idea what command to use?

    It is easy for one specific value with following command { IF { MERGEFIELD "mergefieldname" } = "True" "symbol for checked box" "symbol for unchecked box" }

    Thanks in advance!

  22. Hi - When I go to mail merge on Word from an Excel spreadsheet with multiple worksheets, I go to select recipients, select the excel document and then a box appears to select which worksheet you want to use. I currently have 5 tabs on the excel spreadsheet and yet the box that asks you to chose which sheet you want shows around 30 - different duplicates of the originals. This is really frustrating. Is there any way to remove these either via word or excel, without deleting the originals from the list?

  23. Thanks for all these explanation.
    My datasheet (table) contains formulas (=OFFSET(Extract20130404;MATCH(A274;Extract20130404[Delivery customer];0)-1;MATCH($D$1;Extract20130404[#Headers];0)-1;1;1))

    Is there a way to merge even if the data is made of formulas?
    Up to know I can't merge. The only way I found is to copy/paste special (values only) and then merge. But this way is a waste of time.

    Thanks by advance.

  24. Greetings,
    Thank you for detailed post.
    I have a query,request your expert comment on the same.
    Is it possible to append new records in the already mail merged document, without saving it as a separate file?
    I have an excel file containing 120 records (rows). I prepared a letter and inserted the fields from the said excel file. Thereafter, I performed mail merge. Now I have two files, the first one with only one letter and a connecting link with excel data and the second one with 120 letters. Now if I add say 10 more rows in the excel file, how can I get it updated in the second file containing 120 letters?

    Regards,

  25. When doing a mail merge in MS Office Professional Plus 2013 I set my greeting line format to be Dear Mr. Randall, but the preview shows it as Dear Jack Randall. If I go into Match Fields and change the first name block to "not matched" it goes to the default "Dear Sir or Madam,". Do you know how I can get this to work?

  26. Hi dear,
    Many thanks for your great full & clear explanation regard this & hope to with you furthe trouble when obtaining this digital world.
    Wish you sucess.

    Thanks again,
    Maduranga Fernando

  27. When I use the DDE option as indicated I am unable to select a specific sheet for my import ( My file has different sheets , linked to each other so I don't want to paste it in a seperate sheet. It slows down the computer is the sheets are linked to sheets in different files) I do I get around this

  28. I am trying to do a mail merge from Excel to Word in a Chart-type form. I can everything to merge except one field. This field will occasionally pull correctly but typically pulls as 0. It should be in the format ####### or blank. I have tried changing the format of the excel file to many different types but this field does not work.

    Please help.

  29. Hey - Thank you so much for these easy to follow instructions. I've tried mail merge before and I wanted to pull my hair out. I'm glad I found your instructions. You rock!

  30. The manual is great!
    There is also Gendo (www.gendo.me) that does it a bit faster ( merges data into docx template).

  31. Hi,

    We are using mail merge by disseminating email to our member. This features on MS office is very helpful to our association. However, we experience lately that some of our email hasn't successfully received by the recipient. It's weird because when you check the email, it's already on sent items folder.

    I'm using MS Office 2013 under Window 7 as operating system. I tried to look for a solution by checking it to internet. I follow and do all instruction they advice but still no avail. I hope you can help us with this issue.

  32. how can i re-arrange numbering on the merged document?

  33. I am trying to format the numbering in the word document after mail merging. There are several documents that need to be numbered.

    Please assist.

  34. Everything is very useful on your site so first a big thank you. When I am trying to fix the percentage fields in my WORD document being merged from Excel, they are still not displaying correctly according to your instructions. 0.36734693877551022 needs to be formatted as a percent which in actuality needs to be displayed as 37%. Your instructions either allow it to look like .36% or 0%. Can you please send me the formula to achieve this? I am sure it can be done.

    Thanks for your help.

    1. Hello Lisa,

      Please try to apply the “Percentage” format to your cells in Excel.

  35. Hey Buddy,

    Thanks you very much,
    I want to convert the number into % format, tried many solution, some of work sometimes so very disappointed but this trick works very easily.

    Thanks a lot!!!

  36. I am using mail merge to create a set of invoices. I then want to be able to email them to the recipients. Can Word mail merge handle that or do I need another piece of software to email out the invoices when created? I have the email addresses in the same excel spreadsheet that gives the other details for the mail merge as we request recipients to validate the email address we have on file for them at the bottom of their invoice.

    1. Hello Lan,

      I am sorry, there is no way to fulfill your task using the standard Microsoft Word features. You need special software for this task, please google for it – there are quite many programs that can help you. We can’t recommend you anything as you know better what features you need.

  37. Hi!
    I am trying to make a mail merge, from data in excel sheet. One of the columns has this pattern: 000-000-000
    When I import the list, enter the field of that column, it comes out on the label like this:000000000
    Do you know the reason? How can I save it in the above layout?

    Thank you

  38. HI

    I need to draft increase letters and using annual amount so I need the salary to appear like this R120 846.00 without me separating the thousand and Hundreds currently even though I have a space between thousands and Hundreds it appears like theses R120846.00

    Please help

  39. Dear Svetlana Cheusheva:
    I have a problem while acting upon the method you mentioned above. i.e (2. Browse to your spreadsheet, double-click it, choose MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls), then click OK.)
    When i select "MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls)" it shows an error message. Message from this box is as under:
    "Word could not re-establish a DDE connection to MS Excel to complete the current task"

    Detail mentioned in this box is here:
    "This error message can appear if you attempt to insert a database into a Word document as an object or attach an Access data source to a Word mail-merge main document.
    This error message usually occurs if there is a problem communicating via Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).
    Possible remedies are to reboot the system or attach the data source using an alternate method (ODBC, DAO).
    For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 918594."

    Dear i am in dire need to retain the original format. Kindly help me.

    Blessed
    Muhammad Saqib

  40. How do I use the decimal alignment tab to lineup my numbers by decimal place while performing the merge? Everytime I try to do this after the merge it just pushes every other part of the merge into a different place.

  41. Wow! I found multiple articles to learn about the Mail Merge option in Word and yet you clearly explained here what took all those separate articles to explain. Thank you! I have a question though.

    My specific application of the mail merge is from an Excel file that is consistently being updated throughout the day. In other words, recipients are being added to the Excel file list periodically during the day. I would like to print my letters (in my specific application they are certificates) periodically throughout the day with the most updated recipient list from the Excel file. It is the same Excel file every time. What I have attempted is to "Refresh" the file in Word after clicking on "Edit Recipient List," then selecting the Data Source, then clicking "Refresh." Yet this does not seem to work. I cannot see the most recently added recipients.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks again for the article!

    Don

    1. Hello Don,

      Thank you very much for your kind words. If your Excel data reside in a simple Excel range, try converting it into an Excel Table (select the data and click Insert tab > Table). Then enter the Table Name in the corresponding field on the Design tab and specify this table name as the data source when doing mail merge. If "Refresh" still doesn't work, then you can send a small sample workbook with your data and the Mail merge pattern to support@ablebits.com and our support team will try to help.

      1. Don, if your data is not refreshing in your Word mail merge document, make sure the Excel workbook has been saved. Word cannot see your on-screen Excel data, only data that has actually been saved in the workbook.

  42. If I am producing, say, 40 merge letters, can I run the merge without printing, but save the file of 40 letters to be printed later? Thanks.

    1. Hello Don,

      You can save the mail merge file as a usual Word document by clicking the Save button or pressing Ctrl+S.

  43. Hi - I am trying to do a mailmerge and when I try and connect the spreadsheet I need to use to input the fields I get an "error" message which says that it is not in the correct format?

    Are you able to help?

    Thanks

  44. Hi,

    Is it possible to only merge cells that are a specific color on the spreadsheet? I have categories divided by color, and only want to merge one specific category.

    Maggie

    1. Hello Maggie,

      You can fulfill your task using VBA functions. If you can send a sample workbook to support@ablebits.com, our support team will try to help.

  45. Hi,
    can u do mail merge from Excel to Word by vba coding also.

  46. Hi Svetlana,

    I need to create a macro in excel that can do a mail merge on a single row of data for me.

    More specifically, I would like the macro starts off by asking me which row in excel be mail-merged.(or the macro can start off after I highlighted a row) Then somehow I would like to activate mail merge inside of my excel macro code-up to the last step-print preview of my merged letter. The computers in my company are using word 2003 and excel 2003... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

    1. Hi Jialin,

      I'm sorry, I have very little experience with macros. You can probably try finding a solution on targeted forums like mrexcel.com or excelforum.com.

  47. After I changed my settings to use the DDE I can no longer choose a different tab on the excel spreadsheet that I choose in mail merge to get my data to go on my letter in word via mail merge. Is there a way to choose the specific tab still?

  48. Hello,
    I’m merge excel file with word 2013 to fill a preprinted form. This requires merger letter by letter (letters finally are printed in separate pre-printed squares). I have a problem with names like “Anna Maria” where I have space in the middle.
    I separate letters in excel (one letter by column) and merge. When imported letter is a space (in this case fifth) is not included in word. The merged document shows ANNAMARIA. When replace space by “_” everything looks fine (Anna_Maria). How to overcome this problem?
    Jarek

  49. Hi, My query is how do I translate a set date from excell over to microsoft word. I have gotten many different dates by "Ctrl ;" a worksheet For example a date being 16 October 2014. When I go the the mailings section it changes it to gibberish: 41931. I have read the "Format date and time" section many times but have been unable to fix this thanks.

  50. how do I mail merge a cell which contains the formula into Ms word.actually I am calculating the EMI in excel through formula but in Ms word it is not functioning. plz help.

    1. Hello Rinku,

      It looks strange. Generally, the formula results are copied to Word, not the formulas themselves. You'd better contact Microsoft support service (support.microsoft.com) regarding this issue.

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