Split a Mail Merged document into SEPARATE documents with custom file names [No Coding]

Split a merged document into individual files with custom names WITHOUT the use of code or macros.
0:00 Intro explaining the issue and what we are going to learn
02:16 Demonstrating the process including tips to make sure process works and to make sure correct number of documets are saved with custom names
08:25 Demonstrating the process again to show when default document file names are generated

Link to tutorial on how to directly merge to individual documents with custom names and folders:

[Saito]

A big thank you. I know this process a long time ago (Office 2010), so your video is a big help.

[xhantilomzikembe]

Hi Nicos, do you know why the individual generated documents loose the format (images) after being generated. my original document had images and branding then after doing the individual document splitting then I lost the formatting.

[mmsmith]

Just so you know, after HOURS of trying to figure out why this won't work, I moved the bulk merge file OFF OneDrive and onto my local C and now it works *headthud

[YvonneWilson-lx]

Brilliant thank you. Very clear and well timed explanation.

[ColleenClark-ko]

Thank you for this but wondering if anyone else is having the issue where the documents are not splitting and instead a document with hyperlinks is created.

[Sweetcakes]

I cannot get this to work - why? My document is 2 pages, with Heading 1 at the top and the rest of the document is in Body Text - I go to View > Outline > select the whole document > Show Document > Create - and nothing happens ... help! :-(

[qualitymedical]

HOW DO YOU THEN SET THE FIELD NAME TO BE The name of the documents because here its saving as title

[abolajishiwoku]

Hi. I just came across this solution and when trying to implement this, i keep getting an error message "the selection does not consis of heading levels

[markdtp]

Hi Nicos - Great tutorial - thank you. The only problem I have with this technique is that although my document should only be one page per student, it is creating a second blank page for some strange reason - any ideas why?

[searonthornton]

Hello! Thank you so much for this great idea! I’ve followed the tutorial but I am getting an error message right at the end when I click create ‘Cannot create a subdocument within a table’. Any idea why this might be?

[PallaviGupta-tq]

Hi, this trick doesn't work when the document has a header and footer. Can you please help with a solution?

[NekoMouser]

My merged document had different headers and footers every so often (in your case, say each student had a header with the name and date of the class they were in, the first 4 being in "Chemistry 101: Fall 2024" and the next 5 being in "Literature 232: Spring 2025, " etc). This way of splitting leaves the header and footer information in the "master document" and the split documents lose that (along with a lot of formatting).

Is this really just a work around using the "master document" concept--that these individual files can all be edited separately and then fed back into the master document--because Word somehow doesn't have any native function or capability for users to say "Split this document into multiple documents after every 3 pages" or "...after the following page numbers, " for example? How is there no way to simply break a document up in 2 clicks?

[GregRyerson]

When I click "create" I can see that it wants to create separate documents, but it doesn't. I'm getting the sense that it has something to do with being synced to One Drive. How do I circumvent this?

[FINNHANN]

When I click create, it just keeps saying “the selection does not consist of heading levels.” But it does and it’s highlighted. Anyone else run into this issue?

[nkulifakdash]

Hi Nicos, thank you, this helped. Just wondering how to navigate because l need to put the date at the top but obviously with the date l cannot split the documents properly

[tuneawg]

Hello Nic! Thanks for the useful tutorial! I have maybe a silly question. Is possible to keep reference stiles when splitting or merging? I split the thesis but I lost the reference's style and format. Thaks!

[fi-]

Hi Nicos! Thank you for the video, do you have any samples that could retain the headers and footers?

[skimbus]

Good instructions. I remember I knew that a while ago but I forgot them. I could not include the name of the folder at the beginning and as a result I included my desired title "Party invitation for <<name of the person>>" and then I have changed the colour of the line to white. As such, it did not show on file.

Imperfection 1: After I have performed the outline process, all the resulted documents have a "section break" at the end of the last word...and then another blank page. I s there any way to remove that section end + blank page?

Imperfection 2: After the outline process, all the resulted documents have their lines at 1, 5 distance instead of 1 in the original document. Is there any way to keep the original formating?

[maureenflavion]

I have tried this a number of times and I can't locate where the individual files are saving. I have saved the merged doc to a folder first. We use one drive at work and I wonder if that's the issue, not on my local drive? Before I watch your 45 min coding video thought I'd ask if there are other options when on a cloud one drive thanks !

[mrslnathan]

This is brilliant. Do you know any way that I can get more characters merging at once. I have a lot of text in each cell and it seems to be cutting some of it off. I have looked online at creating a dummy column but that doesn't seem to be doing it. Any ideas please?