Choosing the Type of Data Document
The data document holds the text that repeats for all the merged documents. For example, for a merged letter, the data document consists of every thing except the individual records merge in to personalize each copy of the letter. In Word, you can set up an existing document as your data document, or a new, blank document.
To choose the type of data document, in the Mailings tab of the Ribbon, click Start Mail Merge, as shown in Figure 10-1. Some of the options are obvious, others are not. There are basically two kinds of data documents you can design. For one kind, each data record (a set of data items or fields describing a person, company, product, etc.) will result in a single document, such as a form letter, a mass e-mail, a product specification sheet, or an invoice. For the other kind, a single document is produced in which multiple records can appear on any given page. This approach is needed for creating directories, catalogs, and sheets of labels.
Figure 10-1. Letters, e-mail messages, and envelopes use one record per output document, while labels and directories use multiple records for each output document.
Contrast, for example, using an envelope (with a different address on each envelope) with using a sheet of labels (with a different address on each label). If you have only one address and want to print only one envelope or label, you don’t need a data document. When you plan to crank out stacks of envelopes, each with a different address, or sheets of labels for which no two contain the same information, then you need the approach described in this chapter.
As shown in Figure 10-1, Word offers five flavors of the two basic types of data documents:
Letters— Use this option for composing and designing mass mailings for which only the recipient information varies from page to page. Use this approach too when you’re preparing sheets containing product or other item specifications with one piece of paper per product or item. You might use this approach, for example, not only when sending out a form letter or invoices, but also when producing a job manual wherein each page describes a different job title, and job information is stored in a database.
E-mail messages— This is identical in concept to the form letter, except that it is geared to paperless online distribution. Contrast this with using multiple e-mail addresses in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields. Using E-mail merge, each recipient can receive a personalized e-mail. Using multiple addresses, each recipient receives the identical e-mail.
Envelopes— This is also identical in concept to the form letter, except that the resulting document will be envelopes. As a result, when you choose this option, Word begins by displaying the Envelope Options dialog box.
Labels— Use this option to print to one or more sheets of labels. This combines Word’s capability to print to any of hundreds of different label formats with the capability to associate a database with a document, printing many addresses (data records) on the same page, rather than the same address on each label.
Directory— This is similar in concept to labels, in that you print from multiple data records on a single page. Use the directory approach when printing a catalog or any other document that requires printing multiple records per page.
To choose the kind of document, choose Start Mail Merge in the Mailings tab, and click on the kind of document you want to create.
If you want step-by-step guidance through the process, note an additional option at the bottom of the Start Mail Merge list—Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard. Use this option if you’re unfamiliar with the mail merge process. The Mail Merge Wizard process is described later in this chapter.
Restoring a Word document to normal
Sometimes, either by accident, temporary need, or whatever, a Word document becomes associated with a data file, and you want to restore a document to normal non-mail-merge status. To restore a Word document to normal, in the Mailings tab, choose Start Mail Merge 
Normal Word Document. Note that when you restore a document to normal status, a number of tools on the Mailings toolbar that were formerly available are now grayed out as unavailable. If you later decide that you need to again make the document into a data document, you will need to reestablish the data connection.
Tip
If there’s a chance that you’ll later need to restore a data connection, and if document storage space isn’t a concern, rather than break the data connection for a document, save a copy of the document, giving it a name that lets you know that it has a data connection, such as Sales Letter Merge with Data Connection. While establishing a data connection isn’t all that difficult or time-consuming, you can usually save some time and guesswork by not having to reinvent that particular wheel.