help creating a Mail Merge address database

I am trying to create a database of addresses that can be used to populate labels created by Word 2007.

This would be so much easier than the method I use at the moment which entails copy and paste over and over again.

Help please ... I see that in Word 2007 > Mailings > Select Recipients > Type New List

OK but how do I save that list in a format that I can edit and access for future labels mailings?

It is saved as an .odc file and that seems to be a blocker as far as Excel 2007 is concerned.

I am at a loss and need help from an expert!

I am using Office Home & Student 2007 with Windows 7

Thank you Irene, that is going to require some quiet study but will hopefully get me sorted.

Appreciated,
Snookie

Hi Irene,

I have created an address database in Excel, which I have saved as an .xlsx file in My Data Sources Folder. This is much easier to update directly through Excel than the recipient list database created within Word itself.

So far so good, my problems start when I try to get the selected Addresses onto a sheet of labels.

This is what I have done , in Word 2007, click Mailings > Start Mail Merge > Labels.
Then Select Recipients > Use Existing List, then click Address Block.

This puts the first name into the first label. Now is there a way that I can get the rest of the addresses into the following labels without inserting them each individually by clicking each label and putting the Address block in manually each time so the label sheet looks like <<Next Record>><<Address Block>>

It seems to be rather hit and miss which address appears on which label when I preview the results so I'm sure I'm doing something wrong somewhere

Yes, and the plot thickens ... I have tried twice with differing results.

Start Mail Merge
Select Labels
Select Recipients
Edit Recipient List ... to keep it simple I selected 10 addresses
Address Block & check fields matched

Then despite only having 10 addresses selected, when I clicked Update Labels the page looked like this .....

<<AddressBlock>> <<Next Record>><<AddressBlock>>
<<Next Record>> <<Next Record>>
<<Next Record>> <<Next Record>>
<<Next Record>> <<Next Record>>
<<Next Record>> <<Next Record>>
<<Next Record>> <<Next Record>>
<<Next Record>><<AddressBlock>> <<Next Record>><<AddressBlock>>

Finish and Merge ...

When I actually printed it out I was presented with a page which on the first attempt only displayed the last address in my selection, but at the top left position on the page!!

On the second attempt, having closed Word and starting the whole process over again when I printedit at least gave me the first two addresses in the correct positions at the top of the page, but nothing else .... and it still persists in doing this even if I try Finish & Merge > Edit individual Documents and select From 1 to 10 Argh!!!!

I'm not sure what you are doing wrong. It appears you have been doing things correctly. Here's how I do it in Word 2010 with an Excel file (don't mind the gobbledygook in the Excel fields, I just made it up for fun - don't forget to have your column headings in the first row of the Excel file):

Select "Start Mail Merge" then "Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard". After that, select the document type and then how you want to handle the document (I usually select "Use the current document" or "Change document layout") then select the label type you want to use in "Label options...". After that, browse to your Excel file.




After selecting the Excel file you want, a dialog will pop up allowing you to select the sheet within the Excel file (if you have more than one) and another box will allow you to select the recipients in the list you want to include on the labels:





In the next step, select the "Address Block" option, then choose the format you desire. Before moving on, click the "Update all labels" button:







You can then preview your labels and get ready to print: