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Mail Merge Using a Banner Generated Data Source

Two elements are required in order to do a mail merge in MS Word: 1) a main document; 2) a data source (a table of the variable information that will be “merged” into the main document).

¨ From “Create” choose the type of main document you are creating. In most cases you will be creating form letters.

¨ Choose whether you will be using as your main document the one on your screen when you first began the mail merge process (Active Window) or do you wish to begin from a blank screen (New Main Document).
Use “Active Window” if you want to convert a previously created and saved document into a merge main document.

¨  You are now ready to create your merge document. You will have a new document started for you and your screen will have an additional toolbar. The toolbar is the mail merge toolbar to assist you when creating new main merge documents or performing existing merges

¨ Create your letter (see the above example). Where each particular piece of varying information is to go, click on the “Insert Merge Field” button and choose from the list of field names. Make sure the main document is set up properly including a top margin which allows for letterhead, appropriate side margins, etc.

The list of field names (see right) is generated from the Banner data Word is using as the data source.

¨ After creating your main document, save it using a unique name to identify it as a merge main document.

¨ Click on the mail merge button or click the Tools menu, and then click Mail merge.

¨ From the Merge box, choose from the following customization possibilities for your merge.

¨ Click “Merge” when ready to merge the main document and the data source. New documents containing the varying information for each recipient are created.

Assuming that you are doing a merge using a main document that you created and saved previously, and a data source from Banner, follow these steps.

The options for Steps 1 and 2 will be saved from the last merge that was performed using this main document.
Should you wish to make any changes to your main document, click Edit in Step 1 or do it directly from the document after you open it, then resave it.

Word knows which data source is attached to the document based on the merge fields contained in it. This saves a great deal of time. 
Should you need to change the data source, simply click “Get Data” in Step 2 and open the new data source. 
Should you wish to edit the records contained in the original data source, click Edit, scroll through the records and edit those you wish to change, add or delete.

Once your selections have all been made, click the Merge button in Step 3. The main document has been merged with the data source and now a new third document has been created.  It is now ready for printing.