How to do a Mail Merge in Word 2002 with an Excel Spreadsheet

Using a Mail Merge in conjunction with B-Coder and its MergeBarCodes macro is a very powerful and time efficient way to automate the process of encoding barcodes for printing to labels in Microsoft Word.

First select Tools > Letters and Mailings > Mail Merge Wizard...


Figure 1 of 6: Starting a new Mail Merge

A Wizard called the Mail Merge Wizard will appear on the right hand side of your screen. The first step is to select the type of document you will be printing the barcodes to, choose Lables and then click Next: Starting Document.

Figure 2 of 6: Setting Document Layout

Select Change document layout and then click Label options... to choose a label size and layout. In the Label Options window, select the label options according to your specific labels and click OK. (In this example we have selected the common "Avery Standard, 5164 - Address" label layout.) Then Click Next: Select Recipients.

Figure 3 of 6: Select recipients

Select "Use an existing list" to use a database or list that you have already saved. Click Browse to Select your saved spreadsheet or database file:


Select the databast or spreadsheed that you wish to use in the merge and click Open. (In this example we are using an Excel Spreadsheet of barcode labels)

Select your table and click OK.


Select The Fields you wish to use in the Merge and click OK, then click Next: Arrange your labels


Figure 4 of 6: Arrange your labels

Click More items... to select the fields from the "Insert Merge Field" box that you wish to include in the Merge.


In this example we only have one field "Barcode #" to choose from. However in your spreadsheet you may have many different fields to choose from. Select the fields in the order and formatting you wish to have them displayed on each label. When you are finished click the Update all labels button on the form (all labels will instantly update to the same formatting as you have specified in the top left label.

Highlight the field that you wish to encode in the barcode. In this example we have selected the "Barcode_" field to encode in the barcode.

With the field highlighted, choose the barcode "format" that you wish to encode from the drop-down list to the left of the Font Type then click the Update all labels button. In this example we are using Code 128 to encode our barcode. To figure out which barcode symbology is the best for your application please visit our Intro to Barcoding Tutorial on Barcode Symbologies. Click Next: Preview your labels

Figure 5 of 6: Selecting the right Access database

Make sure that your labels are correctly formatted and that all fields came in as expected. After everything on your labels looks good click Next: Complete the merge then click Edit individual labels


Figure 6 of 6: Completing the merge

The merged fields should now distplay in the document. Your next step is to Merge to a new document by clicking Edit individual labels . A new document will appear in the foreground.



You will now use the MergeBarcodes macro by clicking Tools > MergeBarCodes (MergeBarCodes). B-Coder Pro will open and instantly generate sheets of your barcodes.

Related Links:

Using the built in PostNet bar coding features of Microsoft Word
(Walks you through creating a mail merge document with PostNet bar codes.)