Choosing a Program to Create Your Mail Merge Data Source

Users who have a stand alone version of Word won’t have this dilemma, but those who have the full Office suite may be confused as to which program to use when creating data sources to use in mail merge. Like a lot of word processing situations, there is no clear answer – it will vary from user to user and from situation to situation. Here are some things to consider when deciding where to create your data source:

1. What will be the easiest way to enter data?
Experienced Excel users will find it easier to enter data in Excel – it is unrivaled in terms of cut and paste and AutoFill abilities. Further, you can see all your entries on one screen, without navigating through numerous record screens, so it is easier to see the entries you’ve already made in your data source. If you’ve never used Excel, however, it will probably be easier for you to enter data from Word.

2. Do you have other uses for the data source?
If you’re working with addresses and other contact information, you might wasn’t to keep a copy of the data source for future reference. In this case, Outlook is an excellent choice for a data source. Not only will you be able to use the data in mail merges, it can help you keep organized in other aspects of your life/work.

3. Are you going to delete the data source after the merge?
If the data doesn’t serve a lasting purpose and you want to keep your hard drive free of clutter, you probably won’t want to keep a copy of the data source. It is easier to delete an Excel spreadsheet or a Word data file than to remove contacts from your Outlook contacts list.

4. Are you going to transfer the file to someone else?
Transferring Outlook contacts can be a hassle, even for experienced users, but emailing or copying a spreadsheet or Word data source to a disk is a simple task. You also want to take into consideration the other user’s software options.

Of course, if you change your mind, it is relatively easy to port your data source to any of the other office applications. In fact, opening a Word data file in Excel is surprisingly simple.