As with everything else with computers, there are a dozen different ways to do anything. Most of them are for more complicated than they need to be. Using the step-by-step instructions provided in this document, you will learn an EASY way to merge your contacts from MS-Outlook® into a MS-Word® document.
For the sake of simplicity, we are creating address labels.
Software Version Required:
MS-Office® 2002
Getting Started
Start with a BLANK MS-Word® document
Choose TOOLS – LETTERS & MAILINGS – MAIL MERGE WIZARD (your document will be displayed on the left with the mail merge wizard displayed on the right)
STEP 1 of 6: Document Type Selection
- Select LABELS.
- Choose “NEXT: Starting Document”
STEP 2 of 6: Document Layout
- Accept the default to “Change document layout”.
- Click the LABEL OPTIONS hyperlink (this opens a Label Options Window).
- Select the Avery Standard Label Format #5160 (this is a standard inkjet/laser address label).
- Choose OK to continue.
- Choose “NEXT: Select Recipients”.
STEP 3 of 6: Select Recipients
PART A: Open your address book
Choose “Select from outlook contacts”.
Click the CHOOSE CONTACTS FOLDER hyperlink.
If you don’t already have MS-Outlook® opened, you will be prompted to choose your mail profile. Select the appropriate mail profile and choose OK to continue.
If you have only one contact folder, it will already be selected for you. (If you have more than one contact folder, you will need to select the appropriate contact folder)
Choose OK to continue.
This opens your Outlook® address book with all contacts selected. A few things you should be aware of before we move forward:
You can click on a column heading to sort the address book by the contents of that column.
If you want to find a specific person, click on the FIND button.
If you choose any of the drop down arrows on the column headings, you can select all, blanks, non-blanks, or advanced options.
For purposes of this tutorial, we do NOT want to print labels for everyone in the address book but will work with filtering of data instead (If you want to print labels for everyone in your address book, just choose OK and skip the filtering instructions below).
PART B: Filter your data
With your address book still open, Click on the drop down arrow for the STATE field, and choose ADVANCED.
In the 1st row “Field” column, click the drop down arrow and select “State”.
In the “Compare To” column, enter “MI”.
Choose OK to continue.
Notice that the only records selected now are contacts in the State of Michigan
Click on the drop down arrow for the “ZIP/POSTAL CODE” field and choose ADVANCED.
In the 2nd row “Field” column, choose “Zip/Postal Code”.
In the “Compare To” column, enter “49423”.
Choose OK to continue.
Notice that now only those people living in zip code area 49423 are selected
Click on the drop down arrow for the “LAST” field and choose ADVANCED.
In the 3rd row “Field” column, choose “Last”.
In the “Comparison” column, choose “Contains”.
In the “Compare To” column, enter “GL”.
In the 4th row, change the first column from “And” to “Or”.
In the “Field” column, choose “Last”.
In the “Comparison” column, choose “Contains”.
In the “Compare To” column, enter “BL”.
Choose OK to continue.
Ooops !!! What happened??
If you look in the STATE column, you see that it no longer contains just “MI”.
If you look in the “Zip/Postal Code” column, there are several zip codes shown.
So, let’s filter the results further…
Move to the “Zip/Postal Code” column and click the drop down arrow. You’ll see that it now contains all of the options it previously contained (All, Blanks, Non-Blanks, & Advanced) but that it also contains the three zip codes which exist in the selected records.
Choose ‘49423’ and it will filter out everything except those records where the zip code matches ‘49423’.
Ahhh … this looks right.Review the list of selected contacts. If there are any listed who you do not want to print a label for, uncheck the checkbox in the first column of the database.
Choose OK to continue.
Step 4 of 6: Format your labels
Choose “NEXT: Arrange your labels”
Click on the “Address Block” hyperlink.
Choose OK to accept the default Address Block format.(Alternatively, you can select/deselect the displayed options to modify the format of the Address block.)
Notice that the first label now displays an ‘Address’ field. Press the ENTER key to move down one line on the label.
Click the “Postal Bar Code” hyperlink.
Choose OK to accept the default format for the Postal Bar Code.
Click UPDATE ALL LABELS. Notice how the template for all labels is changed to match the first one – with the exception that label #1 does not contain a “Next Record”.
Step 5 of 6: Preview your labels
Choose “NEXT: Preview your labels”.
Review the content of the preview. If there are any changes that you’d like to make, choose the “PREVIOUS…” hyperlink to go back and make changes. Otherwise, choose “Next: Complete the Merge”.
Step 6 of 6: Print your labels
That’s it; we’re almost finished.
Insert your Avery #5160 label stock into the printer.
Click the “Print” hyperlink to print your labels.
Due to space constraints, the pictures in this article are not very good – if you would like to have a printed copy of this article, let us know.