Creating a template is as easy as creating a normal Word document (.docx
). Yet it could be confusing to people who haven't used the Mail Merge feature in Microsoft Word. The steps are as follows:
- Create a new word document
- Create your template
- Add mail merge fields
See How to add a mail merge field for specific instructions for your operating system.
- You should then have something like this:
- A complete template might look like this:
NOTE: When adding variables, those that display a value are preceded with an equals sign =
. Those that just perform logics, such as loops and conditionals, do not need a preceding equals sign.
- Click the
Insert
tab on the ribbon
- Click the
Quick Parts
dropdown and selectField...
- On the dialog, scroll down and select
MergeField
- Select
Field Codes
- In the
Field codes
input box, enter your variable in front of theMERGEFIELD
. Notice the space between theMERGEFIELD
and the variable
- From the menu bar, open the Insert menu and select Field...
- Under Categories, select Mail Merge
- Under Field names, select MergeField
- Add your variable name in the input box; make sure to leave a space after the word
MERGEFIELD
- Example:
MERGEFIELD =person.first_name
- Example:
- Click OK