A mail merge is a capability of database software, word processors, and some e-mail programs.

Mail merge takes a

standard form e-mail and populates it with personal information such as e-mail address, name, address, and
phone number of the recipient. The resulting messages will be unique for each person in a database, CSV, or other
source of structured data.

To use Mail Merge:

1. Open an existing Word document, or create a new one.

2. From the Mailings tab, click the Start Mail Merge command and select Step by Step Mail Merge
Wizard from the drop-down menu.

Create the Data Source

These steps will run you through setting up a Data Source in the OpenOffice.org system. A dBase type database
will be created for cross platform consistancy.

1. Select the Tools-Data Source menu.

2. Click New Data Source.
3. Enter a name for your Data Source. NOTE: I am going to use TEST as the Data Source name.
4. Press Tab.
5. Select dBase as the Data Source. NOTE: We are using dBase, because it allows full control over the
database on a local system.
6. Press Tab.
7. Enter a directory for the program to store the data files in. Be sure to enter a directory that DOES NOT
exist. The program will automatically create it for you.
8. Click Apply.

HOWTO SELECT RECIPIENT

Before creating the data source document, take a moment to plan out the information you want to include. While
you can always add or remove fields after creating your data document, it is most efficient to know which fields will
be necessary before creating the data document in the first place.

1. From the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, click START MAIL MERGE
The Start Mail Merge sub-menu appears.
2. From the Start Mail Merge sub-menu, select the desired type of starting document
EXAMPLE: Select Letters
3. Click SELECT RECIPIENTS» select Type New List
The New Address List dialog box appears.

4. Click in a field to add information

5. In the appropriate fields, type the desired information for the data source
 6. OPTIONAL:
a. To remove fields, refer to Deleting Fields
b. To add fields, refer to Adding Fields
c. Repeat steps a and b until you are left with the desired data fields
d. Click OK to return to the New Address List dialog box
7. OPTIONAL:
a. To add additional entries, refer to Adding an Entry
b. To delete an entry, refer to Deleting an Entry
c. Repeat steps a and b until all of your entries have been made
8. When all entries are complete, click OK
The Save Address List dialog box appears.
NOTE: The default save location is My Data Sources and the file extension is .mdb (Microsoft Office
Address Lists).
9. Using the Save in pull-down list, navigate to the desired save location
10. In the File name text box, type the desired name for your address list
11. Click SAVE
The Mail Merge Recipients dialog box appears.
12. OPTIONAL: To include recipients in the merge, select the checkbox beside their entry
To exclude them, deselect the checkbox beside their entry
13. When finished, click OK

Adding and Deleting Data Source Fields

You can add or delete field names even after you have merged the data and main documents.

Adding Fields

1. Access the Data Document

2. From the Address List dialog box, click CUSTOMIZE COLUMNS...
The Customize Address List dialog box appears.
3. Click ADD...
The Add Field dialog box appears.
4. In the Type a name for your field text box, type the desired field name
5. Click OK
The new field appears in the Field Names section.
6. Repeat steps 3–5 until all desired fields have been added
7. Click OK
8. For the added field(s), type the appropriate information
9. Click OK
The Mail Merge Recipients dialog box appears, with the new field and information added.

Changing Field Order

1. Access the Data Document

2. From the Address List dialog box, click CUSTOMIZE COLUMNS...
The Customize Address List dialog box appears.
3. From the Field Names scroll list, select the field name you want to move
4. Click MOVE UP or MOVE DOWN
5. Repeat steps 3–4 until all desired field names have been repositioned
6. Click OK
7. Click OK
The Mail Merge Recipients dialog box appears.

Deleting Fields

If you delete a field, the data in the field is also deleted.

1. Access the Data Document

2. From the Address List dialog box, click CUSTOMIZE COLUMNS...
The Customize Address List dialog box appears.
3. In the Field Names section, select the field you want to remove
4. Click DELETE
A confirmation dialog box appears.
5. To delete the field, click YES
6. Repeat steps 3–5 until all desired fields have been added
7. Click OK
 8. Click OK
The Mail Merge Recipients dialog box appears.

Adding and Deleting Data Source Entries

You can add, edit, or delete records even after you have merged the data and main documents. For the changes to
take effect, however, you will have to re-merge the documents. If you want to create a new data source document,
refer to Creating a New Data Source.

Adding an Entry

1. Access the Data Document

2. Click NEW ENTRY
3. Type the new record information
4. Repeat steps 2–3 as necessary
5. Once all new records are entered, click OK
A confirmation dialog box appears.
6. To save your changes, click YES
To close without saving changes, click NO

Deleting an Entry

1. Access the Data Document

2. In the Edit Data Source dialog box, select the record you wish to delete
3. Click DELETE ENTRY
A confirmation dialog box appears.
4. To delete the entry, click YES
5. Repeat steps 2–4 as necessary
6. Once all changes have been made, click OK
A confirmation dialog box appears.
7. To save your changes, click YES
To close without saving changes, click NO

ERROR CHECK

The error-checking tool can be used to check for file system errors and bad sectors on the hard disk.

1. Open My Computer, and select the local disk to check.

2. On the File menu, click Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab.
4. Under Error-checking, click Check Now.

5. Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.
Note: All files must be closed for this process to run. If the volume is currently in use, a message asks if the disk
checking can be rescheduled for the next time the system is restarted. Then, the next time the system restarts, disk
checking will run. The volume will not be available to run other tasks while this process is running. If the volume is
formatted as NTFS, Windows 2000 automatically logs all file transactions, replaces bad clusters automatically, and
stores copies of key information for all files on the NTFS volume.

8.

With the merge fields inserted into the main Word 2007 document and the address list standing by, you’re ready to
start your mail merge!

1. Save the main document.

2. Click the Preview Results button.

The fields in the main document vanish! They’re replaced by information from the first record in the
address list. This is how the first customized mail-merge letter will appear.

3. Peruse the records.

Look for formatting and punctuation errors, missing spaces, double or unwanted fields, and awkward
layouts.

To fix mistakes, you must leave Preview mode and then go back and reedit the main document.

4. Click the Preview Results button again to exit Preview mode.

You’re now ready to perform the actual merge.

5. Select an option from the Finish & Merge menu.

 o Print Documents: Usually the obvious choice: The documents have been previewed, and they’re
ready to go. If the printer is all set up, choosing this option prints your documents and completes
the process.
o Edit Individual Documents: Creates a new Word document, containing all the merged
documents one after the other. This option is ideal for long mail merges.

A dialog box appears, where you can choose which records to save or print.

6. Click the All button to print or save everything.

7. Print or save the final documents.
o To print your documents, click OK in the Print dialog box.
o To save your documents, choose Save As from the Office Button’s menu. The merged documents
appear all together in a single, new document created by the mail merge.
8. Tidy up.

Save and close the main document. You’re done.

A table of contents, usually headed simply "Contents" and abbreviated informally as TOC, is a list, usually
found on a page before the start of a written work, of its chapter or section titles or brief descriptions
with their commencing page numbers.

Create Table of Contents

In Word, you can create a TOC based on a portion of the text in a paragraph without including the whole paragraph.
You can mark text by using the Lead-in Emphasis feature with heading styles to include the text in a TOC.

To insert a table of contents, follow these steps:

1. Start Word, and then open your document.

2. Click an empty paragraph where you want to insert the TOC.
3. On the Insert menu, point to Reference, and then click Index and Tables.

Note In Microsoft Office Word 2007 or in Word 2010, click Table of Contents in the Table of Contents
group on the References tab. Then, click Insert Table of Contents.
4. Click the Table of Contents tab, and then click Show Outlining Toolbar.

Note In Word 2007 or in Word 2010, skip this step.

5. In the Index and Tables dialog box, select the options that you want to apply to your TOC, and then click
OK.

Note In Word 2007 or in Word 2010, select the options that you want to apply to the TOC in the Table of
Contents dialog box, and then click OK.

Note If the text that is contained in your document is not marked to be included in a TOC, you receive the
following error message in your document instead of the TOC:

Change the layout of your table of contents

1. On the References tab of the Ribbon click Table of Contents > Custom Table of Contents.

2. Make your changes in the Table of Contents dialog box. You’ll see what they look like in the Print
Preview and Web Preview areas.
 o To add a dot leader, or dotted line, between each entry and its page number, click the Tab leader
list and then click the dotted line. You can also choose a dash leader or remove the leader entirely
and just have a blank space.

o To change the overall appearance of your table of contents, click the Formats list, and then click
the format that you want.
o To change the number of levels displayed in your table of contents, click Show levels, and then
click the number of levels you want.

Tip: "Levels" in this context refers to your heading levels. You may have Heading 1 for your major
headings then Heading 2 for your subsections of those headings. You can have even more sub-levels within
those that in your table of contents if you choose.

3. Click OK.

Update a table of contents

1. Applies To: Word 2016 Word 2013 Word 2010

2. If the table of contents was created manually (in other words, if it wasn't created automatically from the
headings), Word won't be able to update it for you. Instead, you'll need to manually type your changes in

the table of contents.

3. To update a table of contents that was created automatically from heading styles, click References >
Update Table.
4.
5. You can choose to Update page numbers only or Update entire table if you want to update the page
numbers and the text.

Updating Table of Contents

After creating a Table of Contents if you had made changes to the document and wish to update the Table of
Contents accordingly, do the following:

1. Right-click on the Table of Contents

2. From the right-click menu, click Update Field. Update Table of Contents dialog box appears.
3. Select the option Update Entire Table
4. Click OK.
Delete a table of contents
Applies To: Word 2016 Word 2013 Word 2010 Word 2007

To remove a table of contents, click References > Table of Contents > Remove Table of Contents.

To learn how Word can quickly insert a table of contents for you, see Create a table of contents.