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Word 2007 Practice: Create a Data Table and Mail Merge, Part 1 of 2

See Table Basics in Word 2007 to review table terminology and to see more detailed directions on inserting a table.

For the first part of this project, you will insert a table and type a few rows of mailing-list type information into it. You will also see how to insert and resize columns. There’s not much formatting to do, because you don’t need to format data. You format what you create through the Mail Merge process.

Mail Merge Background

There are two parts to doing any kind of Mail Merge: the data (like names and addresses) and the output (the final labels, envelopes, letters, etc.). For example, if you have a mailing list that you are going to use more than once, you want that data kept in it’s own file. That file is where you would go to do all the maintenance on the mailing information: add, remove, or update names & addresses. The data file is just the file that holds the data, it won’t look anything like the final project. The data file does control your merge results in how you can use the data. For example, if you want to be able to have a first name used in your merge results, like in a letter greeting line, the first name would have to be in a separate column. If all you need is a first and last name for address labels, then they could be in the same column.

If you want to use your own mailing list, go right ahead. Use more columns if necessary, but leave one out so you can use the directions to practice inserting a column.

Inserting a Table

1. Start with a New Word document.
2. In the Insert tab, Table group, click Table and insert a four-column, two-row table.

Type in the Column Headings

With your cursor in the upper-left cell, type Name, push Tab, type Address, then push Tab, type State, push Tab, type Zip. Pushing Tab will bring your cursor the left-most cell in the second row.

Insert a Column

How could I have forgotten a City column? You better insert a column for City, and type in the column heading.

1. Start by selecting the State column: move your mouse above the State column, it should change to a small black down arrow shape. Single-click with that shape to select the State column.



2. With the State column selected, in Table Tools, Layout tab, Rows & Columns group, click the Insert Left button. It will add a column between Address and State.
3. Move to the cell between Address and State and type in City; use your mouse or the arrow keys.
4. Move to the first cell in the second row, now you’re ready for the next steps.

Typing in the Data

Type in the data, using the Tab key to move from cell to cell. When you push tab in the last cell in the last row, a new row will be added. Use Shift + Tab if you need to back up.

For this practice, there are only five names and address to type in. If you want to do more, or make up your own that is no problem.

Here they are:

Format the Header Row

To make the Header row stand out, you’ll apply some formatting to it.

1. Select the Header row by moving your mouse to the left of it. The mouse will change to a white, right-pointing arrow. Move it so it “points” at the header row (where Name, Address, etc. are) and single-click. The Header row should highlight.






2. In the Home tab, Font group, click Bold then click Italic.

You are done!

Save the file as something like Sample Data for Mail Merge. You’ll use this file as the data for the Mail Merge in Part 2 of this practice project.

If you like Word projects to practice on,

you might want to try the free Learning to Use Word 2007 – Poster Project which is available for you to download from Coffee Break Computer. It is a 12-page PDF file with clear, complete directions written for users who are new to Word 2007.

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