Mailings tab in MS Word

 In this blog we discuss about the Mailings tabs in MS Word.

What is Mailing tab?

This tab contains everything needed to complete a successful mail merge. This tab contains all the mailing options that were in previous versions of Word, in a much easier format.

Parts of mailings their uses, work and short keys:

Create:

Envelopes:  create and print envelopes.
Labels: create and print labels.

Start Mail Merge:

Start Mail Merge:

Open a blank document in Word. This is the main document in your mail merge that will be sent to each recipient. Click on the Mailings tab and select Start Mail Merge. A drop-down menu displaying every different mail merge document type will appear.

Select Recipients:

The 3 options are from step 3 of the wizard. The drop-down contains the commands: Type New List, Use Existing List and Select from Outlook Contacts. Type New List displays the "New Address List" dialog box. You will have to save this list as a Microsoft Office Address List 

Edit Recipient List:

Displays the "Mail Merge Recipients" dialog box allowing you to change or filter the list of recipients.

Write & Insert Fields:

These commands are only available when you are in a mail merge document.

Highlight Merge Fields:

 Highlights all the fields in the active document that have been inserted. This makes is easy to see what will be replaced.
Address Block: 

Displays the "Insert Address Block" dialog box. This allows you to customise how the address will be inserted.
Greeting Line:

 Displays the "Insert Greeting Line" dialog box. Let’s you add a greeting line to your document.
Insert Merge Field:

 Button with Drop-Down. The button displays the "Insert Merge Field" dialog box. The drop-down allows you to quickly insert a merge field just by clicking on it in the list and contains the commands: Title, First Name, Last-named, Company Name, Address_Line_a, Address_Line_2, City, State, Zip Code, Country_or_Region, Homophone, Work Phone, and Email Address.
Rules:
Drop-Down. Let’s you add decision making rules to the mail merge. The drop-down contains the commands: Ask, Fill-in, If-Then-Else, Merge Record, Merge Sequence, Next Record, Next Record If, Set Bookmark, and Skip Record If.
Match Fields:

Displays the "Match Fields" dialog box allowing you to match the required fields with the recipients list.
Update Labels:

Only enabled when creating labels. Updates all the labels in the document to be consistent with the first label.

Preview Results:

Preview Results:
 This is disabled when there are no fields in your document. Toggles the merged fields in your document with actual data from your recipient list.
First Record:

 View the first record in the recipient list.
Previous Record:

 View the previous record in the recipient list.
Go to Record:

 View a specific record in the recipient list.
Next Record:

View the next record in the recipient list.
Last Record:

 View the last record in the recipient list.
Find Recipient:

 Displays the "Find Entry" dialog box to search for a particular text entry.
Auto Check for Errors:

(Alt + Shift + K). Displays the "Checking and Reporting Errors" dialog box. This allows you to simulate the mail merge and to specify how to handle any errors that occur during mail merge. You can even simulate the merge and report errors in a new document.

Finish:

Finish & Merge:
Drop-Down. The drop-down contains the commands: Edit Individual Documents, Print Documents and Send E-mail Messages.