How to Mail Merge from Excel to Outlook (with Easy Steps)

Mail Merge is a fantastic way to send an email to a large number of people with one click. It is used mostly to send personalized mail to the users like billing deadlines, new offers, etc. You have other options to complete this service, but need to set up an expensive mail platform for this. The mail merge is a cost-saving solution. We can mail merge with any kind of mail server. But here, we will show how to mail merge from Excel to Outlook.


What Is Mail Merge?

Mail Merge is a process that automatically sends personalized emails to a mass number of recipients based on a database. A mail merge extracts information from a source file and inserts that information into the mail body.


How to Mail Merge from Excel to Outlook: with Easy Steps

To perform a mail merge, we need to follow some steps. Like, such as creating a document, database, linking database, sending mail, etc. Here, we will discuss all the steps in detail below.

📌 Step 1: Prepare Email Content in Microsoft Word

Before sending any mail first we need to write the email content. In this step, we will do this. We will write the email content in Microsoft Word.

  • Open Microsoft Word from the Start Menu.
  • Click on the Blank document option for a new word file.

  • Now, the word opens. Click on the Mailings tab.

Prepare Email Content in Microsoft Word in Mail merge

  • From the Mailings tab, we get the Start Mail Merge group.
  • Select the E-mail Messages option.

Prepare Email Content in Microsoft Word in Mail merge

  • Now, write the content of the email in the word window.

Our word file is ready now. Here, we are sending an email informing the deadline for the internet bill payment.

Read More: How to Send Email from Excel List


📌 Step 2: Set Up Mail Merge Data in Microsoft Excel

In this section, we will prepare the Excel file with variable information. Name and Date are needed in the mail body and email address is needed for sending location.

  • First, we open a blank Excel file.

  • Now, create three 3 columns Name, Date, and Email.
  • Insert respective data on the columns.

Mail Merge Data in Microsoft Excel

Now, save this file.

  • Click on the File tab of the Excel file.
  • Press the Save a Copy option.

  • Now, choose a location to save the file from the File Manager.
  • Finally, press the Save button.

Mail Merge Data in Microsoft Excel

Our file has been saved in the desired location.

Read More: How to Change Date Format in Excel Mail Merge


📌 Step 3: Link Mailing Information with Email

In this section, we will link the word file with the Excel file. The word file will format the mail based on the information from the Excel file.

  • Go to the Select Reception group and choose to Use an Existing List.

Link Mailing Information with Email for Mail merge

  • Choose desired Excel file from the File Explorer.
  • After that, click on the Open button.

  • Choose the shown file.
  • Check the First row if the data contains the column headers option.
  • Finally, press OK.

Link Mailing Information with Email for Mail merge

Now, we will link the variables with the Excel columns.

  • Select “Name” and then select the Insert Merge Filed option.
  • Now, a menu will appear showing the column names from the chosen Excel file.
  • Choose the relevant column now.

Link Mailing Information with Email for Mail merge

  • Now, we can see the Name option has been changed.

  • Similarly, do this for the Date variable.

Link Mailing Information with Email for Mail merge

Read More: How to Mail Merge from Excel to Outlook with Attachments


📌 Step 4: Checkup Preview and Finish Mail Merge

In this step, we will check the preview of mailing content and complete the full process.

  • To get the preview click on the Preview Results section.

Preview and Finish Mail Merge

  • Now, look at the word file.
  • Name and date changed. It is the 1st member of the dataset.

  • There is a button to get the next members one by one.

Preview and Finish Mail Merge

  • Look, 2nd member is showing.

  • Now, click on the Finish & Merge group.
  • We get a list of options.
  • Select Send Email Messages options.

Preview and Finish Mail Merge

  • Merge to E-mail window will appear.
  • Choose the Email option at the To box.

Preview and Finish Mail Merge

  • Put a subject in the Subject line box.
  • Finally, press OK.

Preview and Finish Mail Merge

Read More: How to Copy and Paste Excel Table into Outlook Email


📌 Step 5: Check Mail Merge Messages from Outlook

Now, we will check whether the mail merge has successfully has completed.

  • Go to the Outlook app installed on the computer.
  • From the menu click on the Outbox option.

Check Mail Merge Messages from Outlook

  • We can see the sent mails now.


Download Practice Workbooks

Download this practice workbook to exercise while you are reading this article.


Conclusion

In this article, we described the process of mail merging from Excel to Outlook. We showed all the processes in detail to the users. I hope this will satisfy your needs. Please give your suggestions in the comment box.


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Alok Paul
Alok Paul

Alok Paul has completed his B.Sc. in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from East West University. He has been working on the ExcelDemy project for more than 2 years. He has written 220+ articles and replied to numerous comments. He is experienced in Microsoft Office, especially in Excel. He also led some teams on Excel and VBA content development. He has a keen interest in Advanced Excel, Data analysis, Excel Pivot Table, Charts, and Dashboard. He loves to research... Read Full Bio

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