Introduction
Mail Merge is a powerful feature that is used to create and print form letters in the Microsoft Word Application. For example, employment contracts often contain fixed terms but require variable details, such as the employee's name, address, basic pay, allowances, and contract period. Traditionally, these documents were preprinted with standard terms and included blank spaces or dotted lines where personal details were filled in manually or with a typewriter. With Mail Merge, however, the document can be printed in its complete form, with personal details automatically inserted into the appropriate locations alongside the standard contract terms. This process can be automated and generated for multiple employees within minutes.
All that’s required is to create a table containing employees’ personal details, design a single Mail Merge Word document with the standard terms of the employment contract, link the Access table to the Word document, and insert the personal detail fields wherever needed. Once set up, the document can be merged and printed directly to the printer.
In MS Access 2007, part of this mail merge process can be initiated directly by selecting a table or query to link with the Mail Merge document in Microsoft Word. You can either connect the table/query to an existing Word document or create a new document linked to the selected data source. Let us create a sample document to see how this works in Microsoft Access 2007.
Prepare for a Demo Run.
Open Microsoft Access 2007.
Open the sample database Northwind2007.accdb, or import the Employees table from this database into any database that you wish to open to try this out.
Click on the Employees Table in the navigation pane to select it.
Select External Data -> Export -> More -> Merge it with Microsoft Word.
Microsoft Word Mail Merge Wizard opens up and gives you two choices: either to open an existing Word document or to create a new one and link the Employees Table with the document.
Depending on what option you have selected, the Employee Table is linked to that document.
Select the Word Menu Mailings -> Insert Merge Fields to display the linked Employees Table field list. See the image given below.
Now, you must place the attached Table's data fields in appropriate locations on the Document's body to insert their contents there. I have placed the name and address of the attached Employees Table on the Document. The sample Document image is given below:
Place the insertion point where you want the field content to appear, then select the field from the Mailings -> Insert Merge Fields Menu.
Repeat this action to place other fields in appropriate places in the document.
You can preview the Document by selecting Mailings -> Preview Results at any preparation stage of the document. The sample preview of the above test fields is given below:
If the Employees table has 50 records, then 50 copies of this Document will be printed when you select the option Mailings -> Finish & Merge -> Print Documents; i.e., one document for each employee with their respective personal details merged in.
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