Mail Merge (Edexcel IGCSE Ict)

Spec point — 6.1.8

Mail merge

What is a mail merge?

• A mail merge is a time saving way of creating multiple similar looking documents all in one go

• It allows personalised mass production of documents

• Mail merge uses two files:

  • a data source
  • a main document

• A data source can be created from a word processing, spreadsheet or database management application

Case Study A company wants to send a letter to all of its registered customers telling them about an event happening soon

They have created a letter that they want to use as a template (main document) and have created a spreadsheet of all the customers they would like to send the letter to (data source)

They would like each letter to be personalised by using the customers name at the start

The process of a mail merge would be:

1. Create the template letter and leave blank spaces where any personalised data should go
2. Connect the template to the data source
3. Choose which fields in the data source should appear in the main document
4. Complete the merge and have individual letters for each customer ready to print

Creating a mail merge from a spreadsheet data source