General Mac software discussions forum: Can I mail merge to a saved template in Word 2011?

I have already created and saved my templates in Word. The problem is activating the template and linking it to the spreadsheet where the addresses are stored for the merge to take place.

you do not have to have a document saved as a template to do a mail merge.

I have just gone through the procedure and it worked fine for me.

After launching the Mail Merge Manager from the Tools menu, are you able to choose "Open data source" in step 3 after you click on Get List?

If you can, just navigate to wherever your spreadsheet is and choose it.
If you do not see the Open data source option, you may need to rebuild your identity.

P

I have the same issue, and I don't think it was fully addressed here. Sure, I know how to create a new form. The issue is if a user already has an existing template it should be possible to use that and not start again from scratch each time. But as the OP wrote, Word 2011 isn't giving us that option. The only option seems to be "create new."

MPB with Lion 10.7.3 and Word 2011 14.2.2

Thanks.

Jim

asks if I want to create a new document or use the one that I have open.

P

Strange indeed. Are you running the same version I am? I checked and it is the most recent.

Here's what I do. I start with File... New from template, I open the label merge document with the fields from the data. I click on Tools... Mail merge manager. In the Mail merge manager window I click on no. 1, "Select Document Type." In the resulting drop down menu the only choice is "Create New." I click on that, then on Labels, and I get the label option window. I select the type labels and click "OK" and get the warning "This mail merge document is not empty. Continuing will replace all get in this document with new text."

Sure enough, I click on OK in the warning message and the existing fields in the template all disappear.

Never had this issue with Windows versions of Word.

I found a work-around. When I select "Create New" then click on "Labels" and get the "Label Options" window, instead of selecting a label I click on "Cancel." The Mail Merge Manager then accepts the existing document.

Weird!