Mail Merge in Outlook - Change the Sender's Email Address

Issue/Question

  • How do I change the sender's email address for mail merge in Outlook?

Environment

  • Oregon State University
  • Employee (Faculty/Staff)
  • Email (Exchange Outlook)

Explanation

Mail merges will always use the default account in a user's profile. User's can use legacy view in Outlook for Mac or create a second identity (profile) in Outlook for Windows and use that for the mail merge - but you will need to be able to log into that other Email account on outlook. (For example: Shared mailboxes that users can sign into with their ONID account, or ones where they know the password to it, could be used)

 

Index

 

Step 1 - Add a shared mailbox in Outlook for Mac in a way it can be set as default:

To send emails to a large number of recipients, senders can use mail merge functionality with content from Microsoft Word. Below are the steps that must be completed.

Revert Outlook to Legacy view so you can add the shared mailbox

  1. With Outlook for Mac open, open the "Help" menu and select "Revert to Legacy Outlook"

  1. Re-launch Outlook when prompted.
  2. Add the shared mailbox to Outlook using the directions in the article: Exchange - Add an Additional Mailbox in Outlook for Mac Legacy View
  3. Select the newly added shared mailbox form the list and select the "Set as Default" option from the bottom of the screen

  1. Complete your mail merge process in Word. You can find additional documentation on this process from Microsoft via the article: Use mail merge to send bulk email messages
  • NOTE: Remember to set your main mailbox back as the default when you have completed the mail merge 

 

Manage profiles or identities in Outlook for Windows/PC:

Typically, the shared mailbox for your department appears as a second mailbox in your Outlook when you log in as yourself. However, to use mail merge for your department, you will need to create a second profile specifically for your department's shared mailbox so that this shared mailbox is the default sender for the message.

  1. Close Outlook (if open)
  2. Press Start and enter Control Panel
  3. Select "Mail (Microsoft Outlook)"
  4. Select "Show Profiles..."
  5. Select "Prompt for a profile to be used"
  6. Click "Add"
  7. Enter a name for the profile, such as the name of the shared mailbox
  8. On the Auto Account Setup screen:
  9. Outlook may pre-fill your account information; you will need to overwrite this. Delete anything pre-filled in the Email Address box and enter the email address of the shared mailbox instead.
  10. After you enter the shared mailbox address, you can also update the "Your Name" field to the name of the shared mailbox
  11. Leave both password boxes blank and click "Next >"
  12. You will see "Searching for your mail server settings..."
  13. A Microsoft "Sign in" window will pop-up. The email address of the shared mailbox will be pre-filled, but you need to change this to your username@oregonstate.edu:

  14. When you see "Congratulations!" click Finish
  15. Now when you launch Outlook, you will be able to choose the shared mailbox profile
  16. Note: if you are prompted to sign in to "Activate Office" please use your ONID account sign in with the username@oregonstate.edu format
  • Remember to change back to your original default email account in Outlook after you are finished. 
    • To do so, go back to "Mail (Microsoft Outlook)" > "Show Profiles..." and select the original one: 'Main' or its the name of your ONID. Then select "Always use this profile" on the bottom.

 

Step 2 - Prepare Microsoft Word

The merged file is a combination of the Word document with your message, and the mailing list.

  1. Open the document in Microsoft Word, and click on the Mailings tab.

  1. Click Select Recipients and go to “Use Existing List”
  2. Use the dialog box to navigate to and open the data spreadsheet
  3. Select the appropriate table in the text dialog box
    1. If necessary, select Edit Recipient List and de-select all unwanted data
  4. Select Finish and Merge
  5. Go to Send E-Mail Messages
  6. In the “Merge to E-mail” dialog box that comes up, verify that the “To:” field and the “Subject line” field show the correct fields. Then verify that the mail format is HTML.
  7. Click OK and now messages will start to be sent.

              

 

For assistance, contact the IS Service Desk.

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