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Using MS Word 2003's Mail/Merge to Send Mass E-mails

Mail/Merge is a powerful Microsoft Word 2003 feature that allows you to combine information in one Word document with information in another document, producing a third document(s). Mail/merge is particularly useful if you are sending a form letter or mass e-mail to a group of people or if you need to create mailing labels. This document describes using mail/merge to send an e-mail to a list of e-mail addresses.

The first step is to create the list of e-mail addresses. This document assumes it's in the form of an Excel spreadsheet having one column with the heading "email".

The next step is to open your e-mail program, e.g., MS Outlook.

The last step is to create the body of the e-mail, then send the e-mails while still in MS Word.

1. Open MS Word and create the body of the e-mail, e.g.:
   
   

   Please come to the Alumni Association's Meet & Greet next Monday.

2. On the Tools menu, point to Letters and Mailings, then Mail Merge…
3. In step one of the Mail Merge Wizard, select E-mail messages as the document type. Click Next.
4. Select Use the current document. Click Next.
5. Click Use an Existing List, and browse for the spreadsheet. Click the file and click Open.
6. In the Select Table window, select the desired spreadsheet, and click OK. Click Select All and then OK. Click Next.
7. Click Next, then click Next again.
8. Click Electronic Mail… and see this dialog box:



Be sure to include a meaningful phrase in the Subject line.

9. When you click OK, the sending of the e-mails begins.

Hints:

• While you test the mass e-mailing feature, use your own e-mail address to avoid having to send out follow-up apologies!
• If you are sending to a large number of recipients, consider turning off your mail program's "save sent messages" feature (on Outlook's Tools> Options... menu).