Complete mail merge features in the new Outlook

Disclosure: I build a third-party Outlook add-in, so factor that into the last line. The rest is just what I have had to learn.

Adding the part the roadmap entry above does not explain — why it is missing rather than broken. Word's mail merge drives Outlook through MAPI, and only classic Outlook for Windows exposes that interface. New Outlook does not, so Word tries to hand the merge to classic Outlook and it stops there. That is also why what you are seeing looks like three half-features: the mail merge in new Outlook today is the basic version, which gives each recipient their own copy of the same message. It does not personalize the body per recipient, which is exactly why it feels like BCC with extra steps.

Until the Advanced version actually lands, the only way to get the full Word merge is classic Outlook — turn off "Try the new Outlook", or, on builds where that toggle has been removed, start Outlook (classic) from the Start menu and set it as the default mail app. Worth doing before a big send anyway: Word's merge has no pacing of its own, and Exchange Online allows about 30 messages a minute and 10,000 recipients per rolling 24 hours, so large merges tend to crawl or stop partway rather than fail loudly.

If the sends cannot wait for September, third-party add-ins do personalization on Outlook on the web today (SecureMailMerge and Mailmeteor among them; mine is OutMass). Otherwise classic Outlook remains the complete answer.

Hello Balasubrahmanyan R

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience with Mail Merge in the new Outlook.

I can certainly understand your concerns. Mail Merge has been an important part of many users' workflows for a long time, and feedback from customers who actively use these features is always valuable.

As a Community Forum Moderator, my role is limited to providing guidance based on publicly available Microsoft documentation, product information, and established support resources. Unfortunately, I don't have visibility into product design decisions, nor do I have the ability to influence feature implementation directly. However, feedback such as yours is incredibly valuable because it helps the Outlook Product Team better understand how real customers use the product and which capabilities matter most to them.

If you would like your suggestion to be reviewed directly by the team responsible for Outlook, I would encourage you to submit it through the Outlook Feedback Portal: Outlook · Community

The Product Team is responsible for the feedback site and regularly reviews comments and suggestions from customers. Over time, many features and enhancements have been influenced by feedback submitted through this channel.

After creating the feedback item, you're welcome to return here and share the link in this thread. Other community members who feel similarly can then view and upvote the suggestion, helping bring additional visibility to the request.

As an additional point of interest, Microsoft has also published a roadmap item related to Mail Merge (Advanced) for Outlook on the web and the new Outlook for Windows. Based on the published information, the planned enhancement is intended to expand Mail Merge capabilities by allowing recipient-specific values to be inserted into emails and enabling a more personalized experience for each recipient. Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with the community. Feedback from experienced users is incredibly valuable, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain how this feature impacts your workflow.

Kind regards,

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