Auto-populate can be used to create mailing labels, letters, and other documents in Microsoft Word. You can use an existing Excel file or create a new one. If you are going to create letters or labels you want the Excel file to be formatted properly and contain all of the information for each entry you want to create.

For instance, a standard address label would contain the following data.

First Name

Last Name

Street Address

City

State

ZIP Code

Therefore, your Excel document would need to contain that information, each in its own column.

Once you have the spreadsheet setup you are ready to import the data into Word.

Open Microsoft Word and create a new document.

On the office ribbon click mailings > select recipients > use an existing list.

Choose the Excel document that contains the data you would like to import then click open.

In the dialog box that opens, check the box “first row of data contains column headers” if your Excel documents first row is a heading. Click OK.

Position your cursor in the document where you want the first dataset to appear.

Click insert merge field on the office ribbon. Select the first data set you want to insert. After inserting the first dataset you can position your cursor in the location where you would like the next dataset to appear. Follow the same steps to insert the other datasets.

After the placement is complete, click finish and merge.

Then click edit individual documents.

The new document will open with the populated data.

If you are creating mailing labels you follow a very similar process.

On the office ribbon select start mail merge, in the drop-down menu that appears, select labels.

In the labels option window, choose the label brand and product number. Click OK.

The label outlines will now show in Word.

From the mailings tab on the office ribbon, choose select recipients.

From the drop-down menu select use an existing list.

In the file explorer window that opens, select the Excel file that contains the data. Click open.

The select table window will appear. If you have multiple sheets in your workbook, choose the one containing your list. Make sure to enable the “first row of data contains column headers” option. Click OK.

Now you will add your mail merge fields in the labels. Select the first label, switch to the mailings tab, and then click address block.

In the insert address block window click the match fields button. The match fields window will open. In the required for address block group, make sure each setting matches the column in your workbook. For example, “First Name” should match with “First Name,” and so on. Click OK.

In the insert address block window, look at the preview to make sure everything is as it should be. Click OK.

<<AddressBlock>> will now appear on the first label.

Go back to the mailings tab and then click update labels.

Once selected, <<AddressBlock>> should appear on every label.

Now, you are ready to perform the mail merge.

On the mailings tab, click finish & merge.

From the drop-down menu that appears, select edit individual documents.

The merge to new document window will appear. Select all and then click OK.

The Excel list will now be merged into the labels in Word.