Working with the Mail Merge Toolbar
As you become comfortable working with Word 2003 mail merges, you can take advantage of the Mail Merge toolbar as a shortcut to many of the capabilities mail merge provides. You can use the toolbar either as an alternative to the task pane or as a supplement to it.
To display the Mail Merge toolbar if it is not already displayed, choose Tools, Letters and Mailings, Show Mail Merge Toolbar. The Mail Merge toolbar appears in Figure 17.2; its contents are described in Table 17.1.
Figure 17.2. The Mail Merge toolbar.
NOTE
Mail Merge toolbar buttons become available only as you reach the stage of the mail-merge process where they can be used.
Button | Name | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Main Document Setup | Lets you choose what type of mail-merge document to create |
| Open Data Source | Displays the Open Data Source dialog box, where you can choose a data source |
| Mail Merge Recipients | Displays the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, where you can specify who will receive your message |
| Insert Address Block | Displays the Insert Address Block dialog box, where you can specify the contents and format of your Address Block |
| Insert Greeting Line | Displays the Insert Greeting Line dialog box, where you can specify the contents and format of your Greeting Line |
| Insert Merge Fields | Adds fields to a form letter or other mail merge documents |
| Insert Word Field | Places a Word field in the main document to customize the document |
| View Merged Data | Shows what the main document would look like if it contained information from the data source in place of merge fields |
| Highlight Merge Fields | Displays all merge fields in your document with gray highlighting |
| Match Fields | Displays the Match Fields dialog box, where you can make sure that Word has associated the correct database fields with each element in your address block and salutation |
| Propagate Labels | Makes all your labels contain the same content as the one you've already specified |
| First Record | Shows what the main document would look like if it contained information from the first record of the data source in place of merge fields |
| Previous Record | Shows what the main document would look like if it contained information from the previous record of the data source in place of merge fields |
| Go to Record | Enables you to specify a record from the data source and see how your main document would look if it contained that record's data, in place of merge fields |
| Next Record | Shows what the main document would look like if it contained information from the next record of the data source in place of merge fields |
| Last Record | Shows what the main document would look like if it contained information from the last record of the data source in place of merge fields |
| Find Entry | Enables you to search for a particular record in the data source document |
| Check for Errors | Checks the merge for errors |
| Merge to New | Performs the merge and places the results Document in a new document (or documents, depending on the type of merge you are performing) |
| Merge to Printer | Performs the merge and prints the resulting merged pages |
| Merge to E-mail | Performs the merge and emails the resulting merged pages |
| Merge to Fax | Performs the merge and faxes the resulting merged pages |
| Toolbar Options | Adds or removes buttons from the Mail Merge toolbar |
