Mail Merges in Word & Outlook 2013

This document covers the process of mail merges in the new Office 365--using a Word 2013 document and

CSV list of recipients, we'll create multiple Outlook 2013 e-mails and even show you how to set up a rule to

delay sending these e-mails until you've had a chance to review them. This same process can be adapted to

create physical letters, labels, and other types of documents.

To begin this tutorial, you'll want to have the text of your e-mail composed in a Word document and your

list of e-mail recipients in a CSV or Excel spreadsheet.

Selecting the type of output document

First, open your Word document and click on the

Mailings tab, then click the Start Mail Merge icon

and select the type of document you’ll be

creating—in this case, E-mail Messages.

Note that you can also receive step-by-step

instructions by choosing the Step-by-Step Mail

Merge Wizard option at the bottom of this list.

Selecting recipients and populating merge fields

On the Mailings tab, then click the Select

Recipients icon and select Use an Existing List.

Browse to the location of your CSV / Excel file and

double-click to select it and return to the Word

document.

Adding merge fields to your document

Place your cursor where you'd like to put your first

merge field and click the bottom half of the Insert

Merge Field icon:

The available fields from your CSV file are

displayed, as shown to the right. Click your desired

field to add it to your document.

Previewing your mail merge documents

When you’ve finished adding your fields to your e-

mail text, click the Preview Results icon to replace

the field names with the data from each row of your

CSV file.

In preview mode, you can page through the output

documents using the arrow icons to the right of the

Preview Results button:

Delayed sending in Outlook 2013

Former Thunderbird mail merge users may have been used to the “delayed” sending behavior, where e-

mail merge messages are placed in your e-mail outbox and not immediately sent. You can create a rule

to duplicate this functionality in Outlook with the following steps. If you want to send your messages

immediately, skip this colored box and proceed with the instructions below.

Open Outlook 2013, and on the Home tab, click Rules and select Manage Rules and Alerts:

In the upper left corner of the window that

appears, click the New Rule button to bring up the

Rules Wizard pop-up window.

Toward the bottom of the list, select the Apply rule

on messages I send option, then click next.

Check the with specific words in the subject check

box, and click the specific words link at the bottom

of the window to define the subject of the e-mail

you’d like to filter:

In the popup window that appears, enter the

subject you’ll be using for your e-mail messages

and click the Add button. You can add multiple

subjects here if you’ll be sending different types of

mail merged e-mails.

When you’re done adding subjects, click OK and

note that your subject is added to the bottom of

the window:

Click the Next button and check the defer delivery by a number of minutes checkbox, then click the a

number of link to define how long you’d like to hold e-mails – anywhere from 1 – 120 minutes.

Enter your desired time and click OK to return to the Rules

Wizard and update the rule text at the bottom of the window as

shown to the right. Click the Next button.

Select any necessary exceptions to this rule, and click the Next button again. Give your name a rule and

ensure that the Turn on this rule checkbox is selected, then click the Finish button. You’ll be informed

that this rule will only work in the Outlook desktop client; click the OK button to confirm.

Click the OK button again to save your

changes and close the Rules and Alerts

window.

The next time you send e-mails with

this subject, they’ll be held in your

Outlook Outbox for the specified

duration of time.

To edit or preview a message in your Outbox, just double-click it. Please note that when you preview a

message, you’ll need to click the Send button again to queue it up in your Outbox.

Sending merged e-mail messages

When you’ve finished reviewing your mail merge documents, click the

Finish & Merge icon in the Mailings tab of Word 2013 and select the

output type—in this case, Send Email Messages—to bring up the

message options pop-up window:

Set the To: dropdown to the column in your CSV file which contains the e-mail addresses of your

recipients. Type the subject line for your e-mail—if you set up the delayed sending rule, make sure this

field matches the subject line you provided in Outlook. Keep the mail format as HTML, and select if you’d

like to send all of merged e-mails or to a subset of the recipients.

When you click OK, your messages will be sent right away (and can be found in your Outlook Sent folder)

or will be sent to your Outbox for the duration you specified.

Questions or Problems?

If you encounter any problems with the instructions above or have questions beyond the scope of this

documentation, please submit an L&S IT Support Request with as much information as possible.