You may want to read some tips for mailmerge.
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/mailmerg.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MailMerge

The first is from David McRitchie and the second is by Beth Melton and Dave
Rado.

And if you notice problems with the formatting of data (like zipcodes)...

Debra Dalgleish posted this:

There's an article on the Microsoft web site that might help you:

Answer Box: Numbers don't merge right in Word
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/as...164951033.aspx

And if you prefer the old Mail Merge helper, Word MVP Suzanne Barnhill
has instructions he

http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/C...ngWord2002.htm

about half way down the page.

==========
I often cheat instead of racking my brain.

I'll insert another column (probably hidden!) and use:
=text(a2,"ddmmyy")
or
=text(a2,"mm:ss.0")
or
=text(a2,"00000")
(or whatever format I want)
and use that field in the mailmerge.

(Cheating doesn't bother me anymore <vbg.)

homework wrote:

How do I create a new mail merge from scratch

--

Dave Peterson