In this project you will create an Excel Database of student names and a form letter for merging the names.

Creating the database in Excel

Start Microsoft Excel and create a name and address database as like the one below.
Enter the names and addresses of 6 to 10 persons
Make sure you leave a blank line between the heading and field names (Sal, First, etc.)

Naming the database area Place the cursor in cell A4 (SAL) Highlight to cell K10 The last row and column in the spreadsheet Open the Insert Menu Click Name Click Define
Type names Click Add Click OK *You have now named the database area* Save the Excel Database Worksheet Give it a name Remember where you saved it Close Excel by selecting Exit from the File Menu
Creating the Mail Merge Document Start Word and make sure you have a new, blank document on the screen Open the tools menu and select Mail Merge
Click Create Click Form Letters
Click Active Window
Click Get Data Click Open Data Source
Find the Folder that contains the Student Database you created In Files of Type, select MS Excel Worksheets Click your student database and then click the Open button
Click Names Names is the area of the Excel database that you names. Click OK
Click, Edit Main Document
Notice that a Mail Merge Toolbar has been added to your Word screen Run the mouse over each of the icons (without clicking) to see what each of the icons do.
Creating the merge document We are going to create a business form letter Create a document heading Bonita Vista High School Place the date in the upper right corner of the page Bonita Vista High School November 28, 2002
Inserting the merge field Place the cursor on the left side of the page Click the Insert Merge Field icon Click Sal (salutation) Press the Space Bar to leave a space Insert Last
Repeat the process described above by inserting fields from your database into the letter Use the Space Bar to insert spaces where appropriate and start new lines when needed. Insert the First Field (first name of the student) throughout the letter to make it more personal. Your letter should look something like the one below. Finish your letter. It should be a professional looking document.
Merging the Excel database with your Word document. Click the View Merge Field Icon Click the record number icon and watch your document change with each new database record
Printing the merge documents Click the Merge to Print icon Click OK A separate letter should print for each record in your database. As usual, you did great!