ADVANCE WORD PROCESSING SKILLS

Mail Merge and Label

ADVANCE
WORD Integrating Images and
External Material
PROCESSIN
G SKILLS

Image Placement
 MAIL MERGE AND
LABEL GENERATION
MAIL MERGE
One of the important reasons in using computers per se is its ability
to do recurring tasks automatically.
This feature allows you to create documents and combine or merge
them with another document or data file. It is commonly used when
sending out advertising materials to various recipients.
What if you have hundreds or thousands of recipients?
Would not that take too many hours?
What if you have a small database of information where you can
automatically generate those letters?
2 COMPONENTS OF MAIL
MERGE
1. Form Document - It is generally the document that contains the
main body of the message we want to convey or send. The main
body of the message is the part of the form document that
remains the same no matter whom you send it to from among
your list.
- Also included in the form document is what we call place
holders, also referred to as data fields or merge fields.
This marks the position on your form document where individual
data or information will be inserted. From our sample document,
the place holders are denoted or marked by the text with double-
headed arrows (<< >>) on each side and with a gray background.
In its simplest form, a form document is literally a “form” that you
fill out with individual information. A common example of a form
document is your regular tax form or application form.
2. List or Data File - This is where the individual information or data
that needs to be plugged in (merged) to the form document is
placed and maintained.
-One of the best things about the mail merge feature is that it
allows data file to be created fro within the Microsoft Word
application itself, or it gets data from a file created in Microsoft
Excel or other data formats.
You can also easily add, remove, modify, or extract your data more
efficiently by using other data management applications like Excel
or Access and import them in Word during the mail merge process.
LABEL
GENERATION
By using virtually the same process as a standard mail merge,
Microsoft Word will print individual addresses to a standard form
that it has already pre-formatted. Simply put, it creates a blank form
document that simulates either a blank label or envelope of pre-
defined size and will use the data file that you selected to print the
information, typically individual addresses. So even in generating
labels, the two essential components of creating a merged
document are present: the form document and the data file.
INTEGRATING IMAGE
AND EXTERNAL
MATERIALS
KIND OF MATERIALS
I. Pictures
II. Clip Art
III. Shapes
IV. Smart Art
V. Chart
VI. Screenshot
PICTURES
Generally, these are electronic or digital pictures or photographs you have saved in any local
storage device. There are three commonly used types of picture files. You can identify them by the
extension on their file names.
a. .JPG/JPEG - This is pronounced as “jay-peg“ and is the short form of .jpeg or Joint Photographic
Experts Group. Like all the rest of the image file extensions, it identifies the kind of data
compression process that it uses to make it more compatible and portable through the Internet.
This type of image file can support 16.7 million colors that is why it is suitable for use when
working with full color photographic images. Unfortunately, it does not support transparency and
therefore, images of this file type can be difficult to integrate in terms of blending with other
materials or elements in your document. But if you are looking for the best quality image to
integrate with your document then this is the image file type for you. .JPG does not work well on
lettering, line drawings, or simple graphics. .JPG images are relatively small in file size.
b. .gif - This stands for Graphics Interchange Format. This type of image file
is capable of displaying transparencies. Therefore, it is good for blending
with other materials or elements in your document. It is also capable of
displaying simple animation. Apparently, this may not be too useful on a
printed document but if you are sending documents electronically or
through email, or even post documents into a website, then this could be
quite impressive. The downside is that it can only support up to 256 colors
so it is good mostly on logos and art decors with very limited, and generally
solid colors. .GIF is much better for logos, drawings, small text, black and
white images, or low-resolution files.
c. .png - This is pronounced as “ping“. It stands for Portable Network
Graphics. It was built around the capabilities of .GIF. Its
development was basically for the purpose of transporting images
on the Internet at faster rates. It is also good with transparencies
but unlike .GIFs, it does not support animation but it can display up
to 16 million colors, so image quality for this image file type is also
remarkably improved. .PNG allows the control of the transparency
level or opacity of images.
CLIP ART
This is generally a .GIF type; line art drawings or images used as
generic representation for ideas and objects that you might want to
integrate in your document. Microsoft Word has a library of clip arts
that is built in or can be downloaded and used freely. There are still
other clip arts that you can either purchase or freely download and
use that come from third-party providers.
SHAPES
These are printable objects or materials that you can integrate in
your document to enhance its appearance or allow you to have
some tools to use for composing and representing ideas or
messages. If you are designing the layout for a poster or other
graphic material for advertising, you might find this useful.
SMART ART
Generally, these are predefined sets of different shapes grouped
together to form ideas that are organizational or structural in
nature. If you want to graphically represent an organization,
process, relationships, or flow for infographic documents, then you
will find this easy and handy to use.
CHART
Another type of material that you can integrate in your Word
document that allows you to represent data characteristics and
trends. This is quite useful when you are preparing reports that
correlate and present data in a graphical manner. You can create
charts that can be integrate in your document either directly in
Microsoft Word or imported from external files like Microsoft Excel.
SCREENSHOT
Sometimes, creating reports or manuals for training or procedures
will require the integration of a more realistic image of what you are
discussing on your report or manual. Nothing can get you a more
realistic image than a screenshot. Microsoft Word even provides a
snipping tool for your screen shots so you can select and display
only the part that you exactly like to capture on your screen.
III. IMAGE PLACEMENT
IN LINE WITH TEXT
This is the default setting for images that are inserted or integrated
in your document. It treats your image like a text font with the
bottom side totally aligned with the text line. This setting is usually
used when you need to place your image at the beginning of a
paragraph. When placed between texts in a paragraph or a
sentence, it distorts the overall appearance and arrangement of the
texts in the paragraph because it will take up the space it needs
vertically, pushing whole lines of texts upward.
SQUARE
This setting allows the image you inserted to be placed anywhere
with the paragraph with the text going around the image in a square
pattern like frame.
TIGHT
This is almost the same as the Square setting, but here the text
“hug” or conforms to the general shape of the image. This allows
you to get a more creative effect on your document. This setting can
mostly be achieved if you are using an image that supports
transparency like a .GIF or .PNG file.
THROUGH
This setting allows the text on your document to flow even tighter
taking the contours and shape of the image. Again, this can be best
used with .GIF or .PNG type of image.
TOP AND BOTTOM
This setting pushes the texts away vertically to the top and/or the
bottom of the image so that the image occupies a whole text line on
its own.
BEHIND TEXT
This allows your image to be dragged and placed anywhere on your
document but with all the texts floating in front of it. It effectively
makes your image look like a background.
IN FRONT OF TEXT
As it suggests, this setting allows your image to be placed right on
top of the text as if your image was dropped right on it. That means
whatever part of the text you placed the image on, it will be covered
by the image.