Outlook: How to Perform a Mail Merge

Overview 

Mail merge is a Microsoft 365 feature that allows you to create and send a large number of personalized email messages quickly and efficiently. Instead of composing individual emails, Word automatically inserts personalized details, such as names, email addresses, or other custom fields, from a data source like Excel or Outlook Contacts into a single template message. This process enables you to send unique, customized emails to many recipients at once without manual copying or editing.  

Considerations 

• Mail Merge in Microsoft 365 depends heavily on Word, Excel, and Outlook, and behavior can vary slightly depending on the platform and app version. 
• We recommend Windows users use Outlook Classic for compatibility.  
• This KB demonstrates how to create a Mail Merge using the Classic Outlook app on a Windows device. Some functions and instructions may differ on a macOS device.  
• If you must use one-to-many rows (i.e. sending multiple rows of information to one person), it will require additional software. Contact LTS HelpDesk for support.  

Steps for Creating a Mail Merge  

Prepare your recipient list using Excel  

1. Create an Excel file with the column headers: FirstName, LastName, and EmailAddresses.  
   Note: Additional information can appear within the spreadsheet, but the first row within the spreadsheet should be labeled to identify the column information.  
2. Add your first and last name and email address to the first row (cells A2-C2). This information can be used during the “Preview” phase.  
3. Save the file as .xlsx or .csv.  

Create the Mail Merge in Word 

1. Open Word and choose a blank document.  
2. Go to the Mailing tab and select “Start Mail Merge”.  
   
   
3. Select Email messages.  
4. Next, click on Select Recipients and choose “Use Existing List”.  
   
   
5. Browse to your Excel file and select it.  
6. Select any file conversions, or encoding necessary.
7. In the Word document, type the content of your email.  
8. Use the Insert Merge Field to add personalized fields, such as FirstName, found in the Excel spreadsheet.  
   

Preview the Mail Merge 

1. Click “Preview Results” to check how each message will look.  
2. Navigate through individual records to confirm formatting.  

Send the Mail Merge Through Outlook  

1. Select “Finish and Merge” then select “Send Email messages”.  lastnameFirst@uwec.edu
2. In the dialogue box provided, select the following:  
   1. To:  Select email addresses.  
   2. Subject line: Enter your subject as it should appear in the email.  
   3. Mail format: Choose HTML for best results.  
      
      
3. Click OK.

Note: Word will send each email individually through Outlook.  

Verify Emails Were Sent  

1. Open Outlook and select Sent Items to confirm emails were sent.  
   NOTE: If emails do not appear to be sent, DO NOT repeat the process. This may result in many emails being sent to recipients.