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DEPENDING ON HOW Word and Excel are set up, the subsequent dialogue box may ask to be connected to a new ‘Data Source’ or even to a new ‘SQL Server Connection’. Fortunately, these rather arcane
references can be ignored because neither is necessary for what we want to do. Instead, just use the Windows Explorer dialogue box to find the spreadsheet that was created in Step 1 (ours is called ‘Addresses.xlsx’), click it and then click the Open button. ▼
THIS SUMMONS THE Mail Merge Recipients dialogue box, which will display the names and addresses created in Step 1. There are different ways to arrange, include and exclude the information in the table using the links under the ‘Refine recipient list’ heading – useful if there are hundreds or thousands of addresses. From here, it is possible to weed out duplicates or select recipients by using the Filter command to, for example, include only people who live in Slough. Our simple list will include everyone, so just click OK. ▼
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AT THE NEXT SCREEN, it is possible to use one of Word’s many supplied templates or to open an existing document and use that. However, for the purposes of this workshop, make sure the ‘Use the current document’ item is selected and then click the ‘Next: Select recipients’ link at the bottom of the panel to move on. At the next screen, make sure that the ‘Use an existing list’ radio buttonis selected and click the Browse link, about a third of the way down the panel. ▼
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AGAIN, DEPENDING ON HOW Word and Excel have been configured, a dialogue box may appear asking to confirm the data source. Just click OK. After a moment, the Select Table dialogue box opens. By default, the worksheet called ‘Sheet1’ will be selected, which is the one that holds our addresses. What are the other ones? By default, Excel creates tabbed worksheets called ‘Sheet1’, ‘Sheet2’, ‘Sheet3’ and so on. Since ours is a simple one-sheet list of addresses, we have not used any of the other worksheets. Make sure Sheet1 is selected and click OK. ▼
STEP
CLICK THE ‘Next: write your letter’ link at the foot of the panel. Word 2007/2010 users, click the Insert tab, choose Header from the ribbon and then select Blank from the list. In Word 2003, open the View menu and choose Header and Footer. Type your name and home address into the empty space. Word 2007/2010 users should then click the highlighted Header and Footer Tools tab and select Close Header and Footer. In Word 2003 the Close command is already visible. Then type the body of the letter, minus the salutation. ▼
HERE IS THE MATCH FIELDS dialogue box. Word has a list of items that it looks for when inserting an address, such as the Company, Address 1, State and so on. The spreadsheet we created in Step 1 doesn’t include those items, so we need to match the headings we did use with their equivalents in Word’s list. Do not worry about Suffix and Company but open the dropdown menu opposite Address 1 and choose Street. ▼
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CARRY ON MATCHING HEADINGS from the spreadsheet address list to Word’s built-in ones (City=Town, State=County, Postal Code=Post Code) and then click OK. Back at the Insert Address Book dialogue box, use the cursor (arrow) keys to preview each address and make sure that the formatting is okay. Notice too that there are various options that dictate the way the recipient’s name is formatted – we are happy with the full name so we have left it. Click OK to continue. ▼
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ADD ANY OTHER BITS and pieces at the top and then move the text-entry cursordown to where the recipient’s address should appear. Roll the mouse pointer over to the panel on the right and click the Address block link. Word displays a preview of what the first address from our Excel address list will look like when it is merged with the letter. Unless a miracle has occurred, it is likely that the information in the Preview panel is formatted incorrectly. We will fix that now – click the Match Fields button. ▼
STEP
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LEV EL | MEDIUM
FINALLY, WE HAVE included a sentence at the end of our letter that includes space for the recipient’s name to make it appear even more personal – it says ‘And rest assured that when we’re settled in, [recipient’s name], you’ll be one of the first people we invite round to dinner!’. Click just before the comma and then press the space bar once. Then, click the Greeting line link in the right-hand panel again. This time, open the first dropdown menu and choose ‘(none)’, choose the first name from the second dropdown menu, and ‘(none)’
again from the third. Then click OK. ▼
TO SEE WHAT THE FINISHED LETTER will look like, click the ‘Next: Preview your letters’ link at the bottom of the right-hand panel and the first letter in the sequence will appear. The Address Block and Greeting lines inserted in the previous step have been replaced by an actual address and the first person’s name – not only as the salutation but also inserted into that paragraph in the text. Although our example is a simple one, using Excel and Word like this has plenty of uses for families, clubs, schools and so on. ▼
IT IS POSSIBLE TO SCROLL through each letter to check that everything is OK, or to find a specific recipient, edit the main list or exclude the current recipient (the one being browsed) from the mailout. To finish, click the ‘Next: Complete the merge’ link at the bottom of the right-hand panel and then click the Print link. Assuming that all the letters need to be printed, ensure All is selected and click OK. Then, at the Print dialogue box, click OK to print the merged letters. ●
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WORD INSERTS THE ADDRESS BLOCK inside double-arrowed brackets; we will demonstrate how this works in a moment. For now, though, press Enter a couple of times and then click the Greeting line link in the right-hand panel. When the dialogue box appears, open the dropdown menu that contains the different name variations and choose one – we have gone for the person’s first name. Word will display a preview to show how it will appear in the finished letter. Click OK to continue. ▼
STEP
LAUNCH EITHER THE DESKTOP or Modern version of Internet Explorer (IE) and visit http://classicshell. sourceforge.net. Click Download Now, then click Run when prompted. After accepting the licence agreement, the Custom Setup dialogue boxappears. Click the small down arrows next to the Classic Explorer and Classic IE9 features and select ‘Entire feature will be unavailable’. These features are designed for Vista and Windows 7 and do not add anything useful to Windows 8. Click Next, then Finish. ▼