How to Convert Excel Data to a Mailing List

Microsoft Office Excel is the standard for managing data. Businesses use it to keep track of client information, but it's not only for office use. At home, it can be used to manage anything from a simple grocery list to income taxes. Another useful feature in Excel is mailing lists. These can be created in Excel and exported into Word to design and print.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Office 2007 or above

Instructions

Steps

1. Create the mailing list in Excel if you haven't already done so. Each column must have a header to identify the information in that column. For example: First Name, Last Name and Address.

2. Highlight the entire list and on the "Formulas" tab click "Define Name." Type a name for the mailing list and click "OK." Save and exit the Excel workbook.

3. Switch to Microsoft Word and either open a document to merge with or create a new one. (Click on the Office button, "New" and then double-click "Blank Document."

4. Click on the Tools menu and select "Mail Merge."

5. Click "Create," "Choose Mailing Labels," "Get Data" and finally "Open Data Source."

6. Go to the folder, in the dialog box, where your mailing list is located. Make sure it says "Entire Spreadsheet," then click "OK."

7. Decide if you want to merge the list as standard text or print directly to labels or envelopes. For a standard text, go to the Mail merge toolbar and select the "Insert Merge Field" list. For envelopes and labels, go to the mailings tab and either choose envelopes or labels. Modify the options and click "Print."

Tips & Warnings

• There is a mail merge wizard located on the Mailings tab under "Start Mail Merge." This wizard will walk you through the steps to create a basic mailing list.

• Do not add blank rows or columns in the Excel data. Word will interpret the data incorrectly and create an incomplete list.

References

• Microsoft/Excel

Resources

• Video--How to Perform Mail Merge with Word 2007