If you’re not using an existing excel data source for your mail merge, you can use a contact list or address book in a .txt or .csv file. the text import wizard guides you through the steps to get data that is in a .txt or .csv file into excel.
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open excel.
on the data tab, select from text/csv.
choose the .txt or .csv file you want, then choose import.
in the text import wizard, in the original data type panel, choose delimited.
select the my data has headers checkbox above the preview pane if the file you are importing has headers, then choose next .
In the Delimiters panel, select the checkbox that matches the delimiter (such as a tab or comma) used by your data, and then choose next.
under data preview, choose the column that contains postcodes or postcodes, and under column data format, choose text.
repeat step 7 as necessary, choosing the column you want to change and the data format you want to apply.
choose finish.
in the import data dialog box, accept the default settings of existing worksheet and cell address, then select ok.
when finished, save your data source with a new filename.
format numeric data in excel
format any numeric data such as percentages or currency values in any new or existing data source in excel that you intend to use in a word mail merge. To preserve numeric data that you have formatted as a percentage or currency during a mail merge, follow the instructions in the “Step 2: Use dynamic data exchange (dde) for a mail merge” section.
In your excel data source that you will use for a mailing list in a word mail merge, make sure you format the numeric data columns correctly. format a column with numbers, for example to match a specific category like currency.
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open your excel data source.
choose a column you want to format.
on the home tab, in the number group, choose the number format (general) box’s down arrow, and then choose an option in the list.
repeat steps 2 and 3 as necessary.
When you’re done, select save.
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