Using Filters to Query Your Word Mail Merge Data Source for Specific Recipients
~~ by Linda Johnson, Linda's Computer Stop

Before reading this article, if you need information on creating a basic Mail Merge, you can get the instructions here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/mailmerge.htm

Once you have created the database of names and addresses for your mail merge, often times you want to send another mailing but only want to send it to certain members of your address list. No need to create a whole new data source. You can simply query your database, using filters to pull only the information you want. So, it’s important to plan your database accordingly when you first create it

Ask yourself questions like this:

If you answered "Yes’ to any of these types of questions, the fields created in your database need to be setup to reflect these criteria. For example, if you want to pull certain last names out of your database, the last name must be in its own field and not a field that contains first name also. Planning all that you want to do with this database before you create it will make it much more usable and flexible in the future. When you create a database during your first mail merge, don’t think of it as a database for just this merge. Think of it as a global database that you can refine for any other upcoming merges.

Because Word handles this process a little differently in the earlier versions than it does now, I’ve separated these instructions into two sections: Word 2002 (XP)/Word 2003 and Word 97/2000.

When you create a new mail merge or open an existing merge document, in step three of the Mail Merge Wizard where you select your existing database, there is another option in your Task Pane that says "Edit Recipient List". Click on that and you will see the Mail Merge Recipients box where all of the people in your database are listed. Notice that each entry has a checkbox to the left of it and you can manually uncheck any names you won’t want included in this merge. But, in most cases, this is a long unnecessary process, unless you simply want to remove one or two names. If that is the case, click on the column headers at the top of the columns where you see the field names and you see that your database is quickly sorted in Ascending order based on that column. So, if you want to quickly find a specific person’s name, for example, sorting on the last name field will make it much easier to find that one specific name to remove it from your merge.

Let’s say you only want to send this mailing to the people in Pennsylvania. You could sort the data by state, then use the "Clear All" button to remove all the checkmarks, then manually check the boxes for just that state, but this is the long way to do it, especially if you have many people in that state. Instead, click on the dropdown button at the top of the State column and you will see all of the State names in there. If you sort the data by State before you click this dropdown, the states will be in alphabetical order and you can easily choose PA from this list. Once you do, you will see that your merge database now only includes the people in PA.

What if you want to send this mailing to all the people in Pennsylvania AND California? Click on the State dropdown and choose (Advanced…), instead of an individual State. When the Filter and Sort box comes up, you will see it has two tabs: Sort Records and Filter Records. Click on the Filter Records tab and see the three columns: Field, Comparison, and Compare To. If you did not clear your PA filter, you will see that it shows the "State" field is "Equal To" PA". If you did clear your PA filter, add it back in here by choosing State from the Field dropdown box and Equal To from the Comparison dropdown, then type PA in the Compare To box.

You see, as soon as you add one criterion, a box appears at the left end of the second row and it displays the word "And". You cannot use an And condition to select two states, because no records in your database would have PA and CA in the State field, so use the dropdown to change And to Or, then choose State in the Field column, choose Equal To in the Comparison column, and type CA in the Compare To box. Click OK and you will now see your mail merge is setup to mail to only those people in CA and PA.

Assume you want to send a mailing to all customers who have not ordered anything from you since January 1, 2003. In this case, you would need to have a field in your database that shows the date people last ordered, and you must open the database in Access (or Excel, if that's where you created it) and be sure the Data Type for this field is "Date/Time". If you created this database using Word’s Mail Merge, all fields in your database will be "Text" data types and you cannot use filters to calculate fields as dates, if they are being seen as text.

Once you have the field set up as a date, simply use the dropdown at the top of your Last Order field and select Advanced. In the Field column, choose your Last Order field; in the Comparison column choose Less Than; and in the Compared To column type 01/01/03.

How about if you want to send a mailing to all the people whose last names begin with H through M? Select the Advanced option from your dropdown and choose the Last Name field, then Comparison is Greater Than and Compared to is simply the letters Gz. In the second row, make sure AND is selected and choose Last Name again, then Less Than, and type an N in the Compared To box. This shows you all the last names that start with something later in the alphabet than G, but before N.

In the earlier versions of Word, when you create your Data Source, it is saved, by default, as a Word Table, instead of an Access Database. However, my recommendation is that you create your list of names, addresses, and any other info in either Excel or Access instead, so you have the option of formatting your fields as numbers, dates, etc., instead of just text. Doing this will allow you to sort and filter them in the correct way.

Though you will not have the dropdown menus as described above, you do have all of the same sorting and filtering options described under the Advanced option above. To access these sorts and filters in the earlier versions of Word, open your mail merge document and click on the "Mail Merge Helper" button on the Mail Merge Toolbar. In this box, in Step 3, you see a button that says "Query Options". Clicking on that button takes you to the same Sort/Filter options box described above that is accessed in the later versions by choosing the Advanced option. Once there, follow the instructions above to do the same things.

A good resource for information and help using Advanced Mail Merge features, such as Filters, Merge Fields, and Word Fields is my free email support list for Microsoft Office, here:
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/mso

And, here’s some specific Microsoft knowledgebase articles concerning different merge options:

Linda Johnson is a college instructor of all of the Microsoft Office Programs, as well as Adobe PhotoShop and Windows. She also teaches online distance learning classes in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word at Eclectic Academy. She has worked helpdesk and teaches and lectures at many local businesses and tech schools in her area. Support this newsletter by checking out Linda's eBooks, MS Word MAGIC!, Book I: Fonts, Fun & Formats and Book II: Table Wizardry, How To Get Started As a Software Trainer, and her newest series of MSOffice eBook Tutorials and CD