MAIL MERGE:

 One of the salient most features of Ms Word

 Application : When a Basic Draft/personalized documents needed to be reached/communicated to
many Addressees/Recipients, Mail Merge can be thought for; e.g. any Social occasion, Interview or Exam.
invitation as against application for Job vacancy and ... etc.
In this feature, instead of manually personalizing each document, an automated personalization happens as a
Template (Draft Document) .DOCX file gets merged with a Data Source .MDB file containing recipient-specific
Information/Record(s); Entity : Record = 1:1 i.e., for 1 Entity, 1 Record is maintained.
The talk of personalization here refers to personalized salutations, addresses, account details, or any other
relevant data that makes the communication more tailored and engaging.
It is particularly useful when one need to send the same content to multiple recipient regardless of volumn, but
with individualized information. This is again particularly advantageous when one need to send out frequent
updates or notifications to a group of people.
Overall, mail merge is a powerful tool that,
- simplifies the process of creating personalized documents.
- saves time and effort
- minimizes errors
- ensures consistency
- enables you to deliver customized communications on a large scale. This way, it stands as an
invaluable feature for businesses, organizations, and individuals who frequently send out mass
communications.
 Basic Draft (Database  Recipient’s Records)

Components 1  Constant/Uniform Entity : Records  X : X

(single draft for all) i.e. say, for 1000 Entities, No. of Records are 1000

Final or Merged documents gets prepared

Needed to be Mailed or Communicated (Soft form  Email

Or
Physical form  Through Postal Dept. / Courier Service

To the intended persons (Recipients)

(Hence, the term Mail Merge)

S/W Application(s) name  MS Word MS Access

(Document Editor) (RDBMS)

Basic Draft DataBase  Recipient’s Records

.DOCX .MDB/.ACCDB

Gets linked or Merged

(Basic Draft of .Docx file + each Record of .MDB file)

Merged Document (.Docx file)

MAIL MERGE & PROCESS:
A) BASIC DRAFT:
Type the given matter + Do the needful Formatting

Create By means of MS Word

Save the .Docx file (Drive:\path\... e.g., D:\Mail Merge\Main)

B) DATABASE :

Create by way of MS Access; having 2 parts:

i) DataBase Structure : It happens with set of Fields (purpose specific)  refers to as, Columns
(Structural component)
ii) Records of Recipients : Involves Recipients Data set as against Fields
 form Records (Recipient’s Information)  refers to as Rows
(Structural component)

** Context:
i) Data comes against  Field(s)
ii) Information founds against  Record(s)

MAKING THINGS ON GROUND:

 Let us now have a situation where there’re applications from Applicants against vacancies and you need to
manage & maintain the Applicant’s information.
 On verification of document, interview invitation needed to be sent to Qualified Applicants.

Structuring DataBase for Applicant’s Information:

Applicant’s information components are known as  Fields  are of 2 types Standard + Situational

Standard components:
 Recipients name (Personal Title, Frist Name, Middle Name, Last Name)
 Care off
 Company Name
 Designation
 Building + Floor+ Room no
 Village and Road
 PO
 PS
 Dist.
 Pin
 State
 Country
 Phone no
 Situational components:
 Application Post
 Application Date
 Application Date
 Interview Place
 Interview Date
 Interview Time

Considering the above Fields as against the purpose given, let us try & create the
Database (.MDB) Structure:

How To:
Mailings

Select Recipients

Type a new list

Customized columns (Field List window appears)

(Register/Consider required fields for the given purpose (By means of Add, Delete and Rename)

OK & Done

C) RECORD INPUT PART:

Enter Data against Fields to form Records of Recipients

OK (On Completion)

File  Save (Drive:\path e.g. D:\Mail merge\DBS)

.MDB File creation completed

 D) INSERTION OF MERGE FIELDS AT REQUIRED POINTS OF THE DOCUMENTS:

Position the cursor at the required point and make provision.

Mailings

Insert Merge field (Field list window appears)

Pick and drop required Field at point demanded; continue with the same exercise until all
Fields are taken

E) Finally, the MERGE ACTIVITY:

Mailings  Finish & Merge  Edit Individual Documents 

All
Current Record
From: record no. To: record no.  Ok 
Merged Document  .Docx  is Done.

MODIFICATION OF DATABASE :

Mailings

Edit Recipient list

Select the .MDB file  Edit

A. Do needful modification onto RECORDS

B. DATABASE STRUCTURE modification:

Customize Columns

Add, Rename, Delete Fields as felt required

Yes  OK

** For Modification : Document or DataBase (Structure and/or Records) or for any kind of Add-on activities :

Merge Documents should get closed

SORT Activity:

Sorting means Arranging/Ordering Records of the Database based on Fields:

a) Primary, the independent
b) Secondary(s), the dependents
i) Secondary1
ii) Secondary2
How To:
Mailings

Edit Recipients List

Sort

Sort by  Primary Field (the first mentioned field)

Then by  Secondary 1 (the second mentioned field)
Then by  Secondary 2 (the third mentioned field)

FILTER Activity:

 Filtering is a condition bound activity

 Condition(s) comes against Field(s)
 Who gets Filtered : Records

Concept : Filter In Filter Out

Records that meet Records don’t meet the given

the given conditions condition (FALSE) gets filtered out
(TRUE) gets filtered-in.

How To:
Mailings  Edit Recipients  Filter  Specify condition(s) against Field(s) as given.

Example 1 :
With simple criteria:
 Find people residing under Bishnupur post-office.
Field Comparison Compare to
PO Equal to Bishnupur (PO = ”Bishnupur”)
 Example 2 :
With compound criteria:
For compound criteria, we require Logical Operators (And & Or)
Multi-criteria with Same Fields  conditions require to be combined with OR
Multi-criteria with different Fields  conditions require to be combined with AND
 Get people residing under Bishnupur and Sonamukhi post-office.

Field Comparison Compare To

a. PO Equal to Bishnupur
OR
b. PO Equal to Sonamukhi

(PO = “Bishnupur” OR PO = ”Sonamukhi”)

Example 3 :

 People residing under Bishnupur and Sonamukhi post-office of Bankura dist. Is to be

addressed

Field Comparison Compare To

a. PO Equal to Bishnupur
OR b. PO Equal to Sonamukhi

AND c. Dist. Equal to Bankura

(PO = ”Bishnupur” OR PO = ”Sonamukhi”) And (Dist.= ”Bankura”)