Use mail merge in Word to send bulk email messages

Prepare your document

To be able to send bulk email via mail merge, you must already have installed a MAPI-compatible email program such as Outlook or Gmail and Business Email Accounts or Personal Email.

The following process assumes that you already have the message you intend to send already created to open in Microsoft Word.

Go to Mailings > Start Mail Merge > E-mail Messages.

Set up your mailing list

The mailing list is your data source. For more information, see Data sources you can use for a mail merge .

Tips

If you don't have a mailing list, you will be able to create one during mail merge.

If you are using an Excel spreadsheet as your data source, format the ZIP/postal codes as text to avoid auto-deletion of any leading zeroes. For more information, see Format mail merge numbers, dates, and other values in Excel .

If you want to use your Outlook contacts as a list source, make sure Outlook is your default email program and is the same version as Word.

You might also be interested in learning how to create a mail merge directly from Excel: Mail merge using an Excel spreadsheet .

Link your mailing list to your email message

Make sure your data source has a column for email addresses and that there is an email address for every intended recipient.

1. Go to Mailings > Select Recipients.

2. Choose a data source. For more information, see Data sources you can use for a mail merge .

3. Choose File > Save.

To learn more about editing, sorting, or filtering your mailing list, see Mail merge: Edit recipients .

Add personalized content to email message

1. Go to Mailings > Greeting Line.

2. Choose a format.

3. Choose OK to insert the merge field.

4. Choose File > Save.

You can add other fields from your data source to your email message. For more information, see Insert mail merge fields .

Note: After inserting fields, you will need to format your email manually.

To learn how to fix any missing part of your addresses or other fields, see Mail merge: Match Fields .

To change the font, size, or spacing of the merged content, select the merge field name and make the needed changes.

Preview and finish

1. Choose Preview Results, then choose Next or Previous to see the names and addresses in the body of your letter.

2. Choose Finish & Merge > Send E-mail Messages.

3. In the To box, choose the email address column or field from your mailing list.

Note: Word sends an individual message to each email address. You cannot CC or BCC other recipients. You cannot add attachments, but you can include links.

4. In the Subject line box, type a subject line for the message.

5. In the Mail format box, choose HTML (default) or Plain text.

6. Under Send records, choose one of the following:

All records (default).

Current record (only the record visible on your screen).

From and To (send only a range of records).

7. Choose OK to run the mail merge.

Save the personalized message (Optional)

Go to File > Save. When you save the main document, you also save its connection to the data source.

To reuse it later, open the document and choose Yes when prompted to keep the connection to the data source.

Source: Microsoft Support