The Libraries Directory 50th Edition Libraries Directory Home • Online Guide • A to Z

The Mail Merge Window

File Menu • Edit Menu • Insert Field Menu • Format Menu • View Menu • Move Menu • Help Menu
Tool Bar • Button Bar • Fonts Dialog • Paragraph Format Dialog • Page Layout Dialog

The Mail Merge window is opened when you select the "Mail Merge (Printed)" output option in the Create/Open Mailing List dialog and then click on the Output button. It includes the following facilities and tools for creating, previewing and printing mail merges from your mailing list.

N.B. The Mail Merge window has two viewing modes between which you can switch:

Compose and Edit
Preview and Print

Many of these facilities are only available in one of these modes, and will be invisible or disabled in the other.

See Performing a Mail Merge for additional information on using these facilities.

File Menu

In Compose and Edit mode, the File menu consists of:

Click on New to create a new mail merge template document.

Click on Open to open an existing Text or Rich Text file to use as a template document.

Click on Save to save the current template document as a Rich Text file, or click on Save As to save it under a new name.

Click on Close File to close the current template document.

Click on Print Letter to print the template document. Opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer and the number of copies to be printed.

Click on Exit to close the Mail Merge window.

In Preview and Print mode, the menu consists of:

Click on Print Current Letter to print the currently selected mail merge letter. Opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer and the number of copies to be printed.

Click on Print Mail Merge to print all the mail merge letters in the mailing. Opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer, the number of copies and the range of pages to be printed.

Click on Exit to close the Mail Merge window.

Edit Menu

Only available in Compose and Edit mode:

Click on Undo to undo the last change to the mail merge template document.

Click on Cut to remove the currently selected text and copy it to the clipboard.

Click on Copy to copy the currently selected text without deleting it.

Click on Paste to paste the contents of the clipboard into the template document.

Click on Clear to delete the currently selected text.

Click on Select all to select all of the text in the template document.

N.B. The Edit menu can also be opened as a pop-up menu by clicking the right-hand mouse button within the template document.

Insert Field Menu

Only available in Compose and Edit mode:

Click on Full Address to insert the "Full Address" mail merge field into the template document. This comprises the recipient, name of the institution and full postal address, with any blank lines automatically removed. How the address will appear will depend on the settings specified in the Create/Open Mailing List dialog.

Click on Postal Address to insert the "Postal Address" mail merge field into the template document. This comprises the street address only, excluding the recipient and name of the institution. Any blank lines in the address are automatically removed. How the address will appear will depend on the settings specified in the Create/Open Mailing List dialog.

Click on Institution to insert the "Institution" mail merge field into the template document. This comprises the full name of the institution.

Click on Recipient to insert the "Recipient" mail merge field into the template document. This comprises the title and/or name of the recipient, depending on the settings specified in the Create/Open Mailing List dialog.

Click on Salutation to insert the "Salutation" mail merge field into the template document. This comprises the appropriate salutation for the recipient (e.g., "Dear Ms Smith" or "Dear Dr Jones"). If no name is listed for the recipient, the default salutation specified in the Create/Open Mailing List dialog is used instead (e.g., "Dear Sir/Madam").

Click on Date to insert the "Date" mail merge field into the template document. This comprises the current date, using the format "20 October 2009".

Click on Delete Current Field to remove the currently selected field from the template document. This menu item is disabled if there is no field currently selected.

N.B. The menu can also be opened as a drop-down list by clicking the Insert Field button on the Tool Bar.

Format Menu

Only available in Compose and Edit mode:

Click on Fonts to set the font, font size and formatting of the selected text. Opens the Fonts dialog.

Click on Paragraph to set the alignment, line spacing and indentation of the current paragraph. Opens the Paragraph Format dialog.

Click on Page Layout to set the paper size and margins of your mail merge document. Opens the Page Layout dialog.

View Menu

Click on Preview and Print to switch the Mail Merge window to Preview and Print mode. Please note that your template document must include at least one mail merge field before you can preview your mail merge.

Click on Compose and Edit to switch the Mail Merge window to Compose and Edit mode.

Click on Show Control Characters to turn control characters on and off. By default, control characters (spaces, carriage returns etc.) are visible in Compose and Edit mode and invisible in Preview and Print mode.

Move Menu

Only available in Preview and Print mode:

Click on First Record to move to the first record in the mailing list.

Click on Previous Record to move to the previous record in the mailing list.

Click on Next Record to move to the next record in the mailing list.

Click on Last Record to move to the last record in the mailing list.

Click on Find Record to find a particular record or records. Opens the Find Address dialog.

Help Menu

Click on Help Contents to open the application's Help file at the Contents page.

Click on Using the Mail Merge Window to open the Help topic for the Mail Merge window.

Click on How to Perform a Mail Merge to open the Help topic for performing mail merges.

Tool Bar

Only available in Compose and Edit mode:

Use the New, Open and Save buttons to create a new template document, open an existing file, and to save your current template document.

Use the font and font size drop-down lists and the bold, italics and underline buttons to format the currently selected text.

Use the paragraph alignment buttons to set the alignment for the current paragraph (left, right, centred or justified).

Click on the Insert Field button to open the Insert Field menu as a drop-down list.

Button Bar

In Compose and Edit mode, the button bar consists of:

Click on the Preview button to switch the Mail Merge window to Preview and Print mode. Please note that your template document must include at least one mail merge field before you can preview your mail merge.

Click on the Print Page button to print your template document. Opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer and the number of copies to be printed.

Click on the Exit button to close the Mail Merge window.

In Preview and Print mode, the bar consists of:

Click on the navigation buttons to move from record to record. The current record and total number of addresses in the current mailing are also displayed here.

Click on the Compose button to switch the Mail Merge window to Compose and Edit mode.

Click on the Find button to find a particular record or records. Opens the Find Address dialog.

Click on the Print Page button to print the currently selected mail merge letter. Opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer and the number of copies to be printed.

Click on the Print All button to print all the mail merge letters in the mailing. Opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer, the number of copies and the range of pages to be printed.

Click on the Exit button to close the Mail Merge window.

Fonts Dialog

To open the dialog, click on Fonts in the Format Menu. Use the dialog to set the font, the font size and the text formatting (bold, italics, strike-out, underlining, superscript and subscript) for the currently selected text in the template document:

Paragraph Format Dialog

To open the dialog, click on Paragraph in the Format Menu. Use the dialog to set the line-spacing, the alignment (left, right, centred or justified) and the indentation (including first-line indentation) for the current paragraph in the template document:

Page Layout Dialog

To open the dialog, click on Page Layout in the Format Menu. Use the dialog to set the page margins and the paper size for the mail merge document:

See Also

About the CD-ROM
Creating and Managing Mailing Lists
Performing a Mail Merge