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You can use just about any type of data source (data source: A file that contains the information to be merged into a document. For example, the list of names and addresses you want to use in a mail merge. You must connect to the data source before you can use the information in it.) for a mail merge.
Important Accessing any of these data sources from an HTTP location is not supported. Save the file to your local hard drive before you use it as a mail merge data file.
Here are examples of data sources.
Microsoft Outlook Contact List
You can retrieve contact information directly from your Outlook Contact List.
Microsoft Office Address List
You can create a simple Office Address List during the mail merge, and access it for later use. This is best for small, simple lists that you don't use frequently.
Microsoft Excel worksheet or Microsoft Access database
With Excel, you can select data from any worksheet or named range within a workbook. With Access, you can select data from any table or query (query: A means of finding all the records stored in a data source that fit a set of criteria you name. Queries can contain operators, quotation marks, wildcard characters, and parentheses to help focus your search.) defined in the database.
Other database files
You can use:
You can access these sources or start the Data Connection Wizard by clicking New Source in the Select Data Source dialog box.
HTML file
You can use an HTML (HTML: The standard markup language used for documents on the World Wide Web. HTML uses tags to indicate how Web browsers should display page elements such as text and graphics and how to respond to user actions.) file that has a single table. The first row of the table must contain column names and the other rows must contain data.
Different type of electronic address book
You can use the following types of address books:
Microsoft Word data source or a header source
You can use a Word document as a data source. The document should contain a single table. The first row of the table must contain headings, and the other rows must contain the records you want to merge. You can also use a header source (header source: A document that contains the header row (or header record) to be used with the data source specified for a mail-merge main document.) as a data source.
Text files
You can use any text file that has data fields (data field: A category of information that corresponds to one column of information in a data source. The name of each data field is listed in the first row (header row) of the data source. "PostalCode" and "LastName" are examples of data field names.) separated (or delimited) by tab characters or commas and data records (data record: A complete set of related information that corresponds to one row of information in the data source. All information about one client in a client mailing list is an example of a data record.) separated by paragraph marks.
Note If you installed Microsoft Office (instead of installing Microsoft Word by itself), you can also use Microsoft Query to construct a query (query: A means of finding all the records stored in a data source that fit a set of criteria you name. Queries can contain operators, quotation marks, wildcard characters, and parentheses to help focus your search.) and retrieve the data you want from an external data source (external data source: A data source that contains the data a user wants to gain access to: for example, a Microsoft Excel list or a Microsoft Access database.).
