Simple Mail-Merge: Use Gmail Mail Merge

Creation date: 10/25/2022 9:32 AM    Updated: 6/11/2024 4:21 PM    gmail mail merge
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/12921167?hl=en

Send personalized emails with mail merge

You can use mail merge in Gmail to send personalized email campaigns, newsletters, and announcements to a wide audience.

Important: Mail merge replaces multi-send mode in Gmail. When composing a message, next to the "To:" line, click Use mail merge .

Learn how mail merge works


  • Mail merge lets you personalize messages with merge tags, such as @firstname and @lastname. When you send a message, each recipient gets a unique copy of the email in which the merge tags are replaced with your details.
  • Recipients can’t check who else you sent the message to. To easily manage conversations, you'll get the recipient’s replies in separate threads.
  • If you have a large number of recipients, you can link a spreadsheet that contains their contact information. Any column in the spreadsheet can be used as a merge tag in your message. It includes custom details for each recipient to personalize your message.

Add recipients directly to your message

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. At the top left, click Compose.
    • You can also open an existing draft.
  3. In the "To:" line, add recipients.
  4. On the right of the "To:" line, click Use mail merge .
  5. Turn on Mail Merge.
  6. In your message, enter @.
  7. Select a merge tag:
    • @firstname
    • @lastname
    • @fullname
    • @email
  8. To insert the merge tag, press Enter.

Tips:

  • To ensure your message uses the correct recipient name, check their name in Google Contacts.
  • To add multiple recipients, create a label in Google Contacts and group recipients. When you add the label in the "To:" line in Gmail, the grouped recipients populate automatically. Learn how to organize contacts with labels.
  • If the recipient isn’t in Google Contacts, mail merge populates the first and last name based on what you enter in the "To:" line.
    • For example, if you enter "Lisa Rodriguez <lisa@example.com>" as a recipient, Gmail uses "Lisa" as @firstname and "Rodriguez" as @lastname.

Add recipients from a spreadsheet to your message

Important: Contact information must be in the first tab of your spreadsheet and can only contain text.

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. At the top left, click Compose.
    • You can also open an existing draft.
  3. On the right of the "To:" line, click Use mail merge .
  4. Turn on Mail Merge.
  5. Click Add from a spreadsheet.
  6. Select a spreadsheet.
  7. Click Insert.
  8. In the window, select the columns from your spreadsheet that have recipient info:
    • Email
    • First name
    • Last name (optional)
  9. Click Finish.
    • Your spreadsheet is added to the "To:" line in the message.
  10. In your message, enter @.
  11. Select a merge tag.
    • Merge tags are determined by the column headers in your spreadsheet.
  12. To insert the merge tag, press Enter.

Tip: When you use a spreadsheet for recipient information, check the text characters used in your column headers and email addresses.

  • If a column name contains special characters other than letters or numbers, you can identify the corresponding merge tag in Gmail by its position. For example, the first column would be called "@A."
  • Email addresses that contain special characters are considered invalid.

Learn about default values for merge tags

If you have a recipient with missing information for a merge tag, you get an error message. For example, you get an error if you try to email "Sam <sam@example.com>" and use either the @firstname or @lastname merge tag. This is because Gmail can’t be sure whether "Sam" is this person’s first name or last name.

In this situation, you can:

  • Enter a default value in the error message.
    • For example, for recipients who don’t have a first name, "Hi @firstname" can be "Hi friend."
  • Go back to the draft and:
    • Add the missing value in the "To:" line, in Google Contacts, or in the spreadsheet you linked.
    • Remove any recipient with missing values from the "To:" line or the spreadsheet you linked.

Find your sent messages

To find your sent messages, open the "Sent" folder in Gmail. In the message, you find a "Sent with mail merge" banner.