Java - Create and Preform a Mail Merge in Word

Mail merge in Microsoft Word allows you to send personalized letters and emails without having to customize each letter. In this article, I am going to show you how to create a template by inserting merge fields in it, and how to merge text values and image into merge fields, by using Free Spire.Doc for Java.

Installing Spire.Doc.jar

If you create a Maven project, you can easily import the jar in your application using the following configurations. For non-Maven projects, download the jar file from this link and add it as a dependency in your application.

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>com.e-iceblue</id>
        <name>e-iceblue</name>
        <url>http://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId> e-iceblue </groupId>
        <artifactId>spire.doc.free</artifactId>
        <version>2.7.3</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Example 1. Create merge fields

import com.spire.doc.Document;
import com.spire.doc.FieldType;
import com.spire.doc.FileFormat;
import com.spire.doc.Section;
import com.spire.doc.documents.BreakType;
import com.spire.doc.documents.Paragraph;

public class CreateMailMerge {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        //Create a Document object
        Document document = new Document();

        //Add a section
        Section section = document.addSection();

        //Add a paragraph
        Paragraph paragraph = section.addParagraph();

        //Add text and mail merge fields to the paragraph
        paragraph.appendText("Name: ");
        paragraph.appendField("Name", FieldType.Field_Merge_Field);
        paragraph.appendBreak(BreakType.Line_Break);
        paragraph.appendText("Phone: ");
        paragraph.appendField("Phone", FieldType.Field_Merge_Field);
        paragraph.appendBreak(BreakType.Line_Break);
        paragraph.appendText("Date: ");
        paragraph.appendField("Date", FieldType.Field_Merge_Field);
        paragraph.appendBreak(BreakType.Line_Break);
        paragraph.appendText("Portrait: ");
        paragraph.appendField("Image:Portrait", FieldType.Field_Merge_Field);
       
        //Save the document
        document.saveToFile("Template.docx", FileFormat.Docx_2013);
    }
}

Example 2. Mail merge text

import com.spire.doc.Document;
import com.spire.doc.FileFormat;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class MailMergeText {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        //Create a Document instance
        Document document = new Document();

        //Load the template
        document.loadFromFile("C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\Template.docx");

        //Specify mail merge fields' names
        String[] filedNames = new String[]{"Name", "Phone", "Date"};

        //Specify text values for the fields
        Date currentTime = new Date();
        SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
        String dateString = formatter.format(currentTime);
        String[] filedValues = new String[]{"John Smith", "+1 (69) 123456", dateString};

        //Merge the specified values into fields
        document.getMailMerge().execute(filedNames, filedValues);

        //Save the document to file
        document.saveToFile("MergeTextValue.docx", FileFormat.Docx_2013);
    }
}

Example 3. Mail merge image

import com.spire.doc.Document;
import com.spire.doc.FileFormat;
import com.spire.doc.reporting.MergeImageFieldEventArgs;
import com.spire.doc.reporting.MergeImageFieldEventHandler;

public class MailMergeImage {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        //Create a Document object
        Document document = new Document();

        //Load the template document
        document.loadFromFile("C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\Template.docx");

        //Specify the field's name
        String[] filedNames = new String[]{"Portrait"};

        //Specify the path of image
        String[] filedValues = new String[]{"C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\portrait.jpg"};
       
        //Invoke the custom method to load image
        document.getMailMerge().MergeImageField = new MergeImageFieldEventHandler() {
            public void invoke(Object sender, MergeImageFieldEventArgs args) {
                mailMerge_MergeImageField(sender, args); //mailMerge_LoadImage
            }
        };

        //Merge image to the field
        document.getMailMerge().execute(filedNames, filedValues);

        //Save the document to file
        document.saveToFile("output/MergeImage.docx", FileFormat.Docx_2013);
    }

    //Create a custom method to load image for mail merge
    private static void mailMerge_MergeImageField (Object sender, MergeImageFieldEventArgs field) {
        String filePath = field.getImageFileName();
        if (filePath != null && !"".equals(filePath)) {
            try {
                field.setImage(filePath);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }
}