How to Mail merge a party invite using Microsoft Word
Summary
TLDRThis tutorial walks through the process of using Microsoft Word's mail merge feature to create and send personalized party invitations. It demonstrates how to select a template, customize it with a message, and use a database of contacts. The video guides viewers on how to add merge fields for personalization, preview the results, and send the invites via email. It also covers how to edit and update the recipient list, including adding new invitees and using filters for selective sending.
Takeaways
- π Start with a blank Word document to create a party invitation template.
- π Use the 'File New' feature to access a variety of invitation templates.
- π Customize the template by adding specific details like 'bring wine' and a contact name, such as 'respond to John Smith'.
- π Access the 'Mailings' tab to begin the mail merge process for sending out invitations.
- π Choose between creating a new list or using an existing one to manage your recipients.
- π Customize your recipient list by adding, renaming, or deleting columns to fit your needs.
- π Utilize merge fields to personalize the invitation text, such as inserting the recipient's first name.
- π§ Prepare to send emails by ensuring the 'Email' field is included in your recipient list.
- π Complete the merge process by sending email messages, specifying a title like 'Party Invite', and choosing the HTML format.
- π§ Check your Outlook inbox to confirm that the invitations have been successfully sent.
- π To add more recipients, edit the recipient list and filter if necessary to update the invitation for specific individuals.
- ποΈ If there are changes, such as a date update, repeat the merge process to reflect these in the invitations.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the video session?
-The main purpose of the video session is to demonstrate how to use mail merge in Microsoft Word to send party invitations to friends and colleagues.
How does one start creating a party invite template in Microsoft Word?
-To start creating a party invite template in Microsoft Word, one should go to 'File', then 'New', and select a template from the list that appears.
What is the process of customizing the template with personal details?
-After selecting the template, you can customize it by filling in the required details such as 'bring wine' and 'respond to John Smith'.
How does one access the mail merge feature in Word?
-To access the mail merge feature in Word, you go to the 'Mailings' tab and select 'Start Mail Merge', then choose the type of document you want to create.
What are the options for selecting recipients in a mail merge?
-The options for selecting recipients in a mail merge include creating a new list or using an existing list.
How can one create a new recipient list in Word?
-To create a new recipient list, you simply type in the names and details of your friends and save the list, which then becomes a database table.
What can be done to customize the columns in the recipient list?
-You can customize the columns by clicking in the column header, moving them up or down, renaming them, or deleting any unnecessary columns.
How does the video guide handle duplicate email addresses in the recipient list?
-The video guide shows that if you put the same email address for different recipients, you will receive multiple copies of the email, one for each intended recipient.
What is the process of merging fields into the party invitation template?
-You insert merge fields into the template by typing the desired text, such as 'Hi', and then inserting the first name field from the recipient list.
How does one preview the final result of the mail merge before sending?
-You can preview the final result by clicking on 'Preview Results', which will show how the merged document will look with the recipient's information.
What steps are necessary to send the merged emails using Word?
-To send the merged emails, you click 'Sent Email Messages', ensure you have the email field filled, give the email a title, choose the format (HTML is okay), and then click 'OK' to send.
How can one check if the emails have been sent successfully?
-After sending, you should check your Outlook inbox to confirm that the emails have been received and that each recipient has received their personalized invitation.
What does the video suggest for adding new recipients to an existing list?
-To add new recipients, you go back to the 'Mailings' tab, select 'Edit Recipient List', add the new person's details, and then update and save the list.
How can one filter the recipient list for a specific mail merge?
-You can filter the recipient list by using the filtering options available in the 'Mailings' tab, such as filtering by surname, company, or city.
What should be done if you need to update the information for all recipients?
-If updating information for all recipients, ensure that no filters are applied to the recipient list so that the update is sent to everyone.
Outlines
π© Using Mail Merge for Party Invites
The speaker demonstrates how to utilize the mail merge feature in Microsoft Word to send out party invitations. They start with a blank document and select a template for the invitation, customizing it with specific details like 'bring wine' and a response to 'John Smith'. The tutorial then moves to the Mailings tab, where the user can either create a new list or use an existing one to manage the recipients. The speaker shows how to edit the list, add new recipients, and customize columns. The mail merge fields are used to personalize the invitation for each recipient, and the process concludes with sending the emails through Outlook, checking for successful delivery.
π Filtering and Updating Recipient Lists
This paragraph focuses on managing and updating the recipient list for the mail merge process. The speaker explains how to add new recipients, such as 'Melanie Smith', and how to use the filtering options to select specific recipients based on criteria like surname. They demonstrate updating the recipient list by adding a new email address and sending the invitation to the new recipient through Outlook. The speaker also discusses the importance of removing filters when intending to send updates to all recipients and concludes by emphasizing the ease of using the mail merge feature for sending personalized party invitations to friends and family.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Mail Merge
π‘Template
π‘Recipients
π‘Database
π‘Merge Fields
π‘Preview Results
π‘Outlook
π‘Edit Recipient List
π‘Filtering
π‘Outbox
π‘Inbox
Highlights
Introduction to using Microsoft Word's mail merge feature for sending party invites.
Creating a new document from a template for a party invite.
Customizing the invite with specific details like 'bring wine' and contact information.
Accessing the Mailings tab to start the mail merge process.
Selecting recipients from a new or existing list for the mail merge.
Creating a new list by manually entering friend details and saving it as a database.
Customizing the database columns to fit specific needs, such as renaming 'zip code' to 'postal code'.
Using an existing list and editing it to include personal details.
Merging data into the invite document using merge fields for personalization.
Previewing the merge results to see how the personalized invites will appear.
Completing the merge process and sending email messages directly from Word.
Configuring email settings such as title and format before sending.
Checking Outlook to verify that the emails have been sent and received.
Adding new recipients to the database and updating the merge list.
Using filters to manage and update the recipient list for selective sending.
Demonstrating how to remove filters to ensure all recipients receive updates.
Concluding the tutorial with a summary of how to use mail merge for party invitations.
Transcripts
hi guys welcome to this session in
Microsoft Word in this module I want to
show you how you can use mail merge to
send party invites to your friends and
colleagues so on the screen I've got a
blank Word document which I'm going to
change and get a template party invite
so to do that I'm going file new
and what you get when you do file new is
a list of all these little templates
I've just recently used this one so
that's the one I'm going to use and
basically just typed it in there
invite and these this came up along with
a lot of other ones so I'll select this
one
and then I'm going to create it click on
Create and then that sits on my screen
ready to be
sent along with
whatever I need to bring so let's just
put something in here
I'll just put bring wine
bring wine
uh and respond
to John
Smith
that's all I need to fill in there
now
I need to get my database of friends and
family so up onto the mailings tab so
this is a mail merge tutorial really you
start over here I don't need to change
this because this is already sitting on
the screen but
select recipients you've got options to
create a new list or use an existing
list
so if you create a new list
you just basically type in your friends
there and then you save this and it
becomes like a a database table you can
customize the columns by clicking in
here moving them up or down renaming
them so for example
this is a UK based one so that would be
zip code in the US
rename that you can delete anything that
you don't think you need
and totally change this around if you
want but I'm gonna
cancel it off and cancel this off
because I've already got one that I've
filled in so if I go back up here and
select use existing list
previous ones are sitting here so my
data's just got two people in it
if I go into that now if you edit the
list you can see that the two people are
myself
my wife and if I come to the right
I've put the um the same
email address in so that I should get
two copies of this email but one to meet
myself and one to my wife so I'll just
click ok to that and then you can edit
this text and fill it fill it in with
any of these merge Fields so what I need
to put in there is hi
and then just get the first name field
from here you see all the fields are
sitting here now
put that in there comes in with a bit of
code but if you click on this preview
results that'll go
so it shows you the end result just
change that to low okay so that's going
to say hi Steve
you've been invited to celebrate with us
and that will say
hi Elana for my wife that's how it works
and then you're ready to finish the
merge so if I click
sent email messages
now for this to work you do have to have
the email field
otherwise you're doing it by post email
address and then you give it
a title so party
invite for example
and it's going as HTML which is okay you
click it okay to that and then it will
send the emails and then I'll just go
into Outlook
to check that they've been received so
I'll just click ok to this
and it just words away for a second and
then you now need to go and check in
Outlook
so I'll just go into Outlook and check
and there you can see
hi Steve there's mine and then
this one says hi Alana so for each
record in your database list They will
receive this information I didn't fill
the information in but you get the
process so let's go back into word
so that's the source document if you
need to add extra people and do it again
you can just go into edit recipient list
click on the database my data and then
edit
and then you can add a new person
so I'll just put one person in there
miss
Melanie
Smith
um I'm sure she won't like her name in
lower case so I'll just get rid of that
and then
I'll just go and do an email I'll do the
same email myself again
Steve at
it's easy dot Co dot UK now
if you if you add in extra people you
probably wouldn't want to
send every single thing again so what
you need to do here is maybe filter it
so if I just drop this down
you've got options of filtering here so
if I just do that
and then okay
do you want to update your recipient
list and save the changes to my yes
so now I've only got one person that's a
new person
so filtering by surname is probably not
a good idea but in this case it'll work
you could filter it by company or city
or whatever
now click ok to that
so now it's just got one and there is
one record
so that's just the one record that I've
just added and then you can finish same
thing
everything else is exactly the same you
click OK and off that will go into
Outlook the outbox of Outlook and then
send and then you just check your inbox
and then that should be there as well
so that's just dropped in so there's the
three all together and this one is to
Melanie so you've just updated it so
that's how you would do that and then if
you're going to use this database list
over and over again you probably want to
get that filter off so what I'm going to
do is go back into that go back edit the
list
click on it edit and just make sure that
everything's back as it was
everything's there all three records
there's no filter on
yes
so the filters on here so take that off
equal to Smith so
none
okay
back as normal so if I did it again
every everybody would get the message or
the update so if you're going to update
the date for example the dates changed
that's what you'd have to do so that's
all I want to talk about in this little
video how to use mail merge to send a
party invitation to your family and
friends so hopefully it's been of use
thank you for your time and I'll catch
you in the next one
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