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Mail Merge with Aspose.Words: Simplify Your Document Automation

Aspose.Words is a powerful document manipulation library that allows you to automate the creation and manipulation of Word documents in your .NET, Java, Android, or cloud-based applications. One of the most common document automation tasks is mail merge, which enables you to create personalized documents for your customers, clients, or other stakeholders in a fast and efficient way. In this article, we will explore how to perform mail merge with Aspose.Words.

What is Mail Merge?

Mail merge is a technique for generating personalized documents, such as letters, envelopes, labels, or reports, by combining a template document with a data source that contains the variable information, such as names, addresses, dates, or amounts. The template document contains placeholders, also known as merge fields or mail merge fields, that indicate where the variable information should be inserted. The data source can be a database, spreadsheet, CSV file, XML file, or any other structured data format that can be accessed programmatically.

Why Use Aspose.Words for Mail Merge?

Aspose.Words provides a simple and flexible API for performing mail merge with various data sources, including databases, DataTables, DataView objects, LINQ queries, XML files, and even custom objects. You can perform simple mail merge or complex mail merge with conditional formatting, nested fields, repeating blocks, or even dynamic charts and images. Aspose.Words also supports various output formats, such as DOCX, PDF, HTML, EPUB, XPS, and more, so you can choose the most suitable format for your needs. Additionally, Aspose.Words is a cross-platform library that can run on Windows, Linux, macOS, and other platforms, making it easy to integrate with your existing applications.

How to create a Template?

With Aspose.Words, you have the flexibility to create a mail merge template either manually using Microsoft Word or programmatically using the DocumentBuilder class. In this article, we’ll explore the programmatic approach to creating a merge template.

Using the DocumentBuilder class, you can easily create a template that includes the necessary merge fields. To do so, you can use the InsertTextInput, InsertField, and InsertParagraph methods to add text, merge fields, and line breaks, respectively. This allows you to tailor your template to your specific needs and ensure that it’s ready for automated document generation.

Document doc = new Document();
DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(doc);

builder.InsertTextInput("TextInput", TextFormFieldType.Regular, "", "Hi ", 0);
builder.InsertField(@"MERGEFIELD Name \* MERGEFORMAT");
builder.InsertTextInput("TextInput", TextFormFieldType.Regular, "", ",", 0);

builder.InsertParagraph();
builder.InsertParagraph();

builder.InsertTextInput("TextInput", TextFormFieldType.Regular, "", "Thanks for purchasing our product: ", 0);
builder.InsertField(@"MERGEFIELD Product \* MERGEFORMAT");

builder.InsertParagraph();
builder.InsertParagraph();

builder.InsertTextInput("TextInput", TextFormFieldType.Regular, "", "Best regards ", 0);

doc.Save("template.docx");

How to Perform Mail Merge with Aspose.Words?

  1. Load the template document: You can use the Document class to load a Word document from a file or a stream.
Document doc = new Document("template.docx");
  1. Set the data source: You can use the Document.MailMerge property to set the data source, which can be a DataTable, a DataView, a LINQ query, an XML file, or any other object that implements the IMailMergeDataSource interface.
DataTable data = new DataTable();
data.Columns.Add("Name");
data.Columns.Add("Product");

data.Rows.Add("John Doe", "Product1");
data.Rows.Add("Doe John", "Product2");
  1. Execute mail merge for each row of data table and create output document.
int counter = 1;
foreach (DataRow row in data.Rows)
{
    Document dstDoc = (Document)doc.Clone(true);
    dstDoc.MailMerge.Execute(row);
    dstDoc.Save(string.Format("Output{0}.docx", counter++));
}

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