Comparison
Run Done vs. Word mail merge
Mail merge is built into Word and free. If it already covers your work, you do not need us. This page explains where the two tools genuinely differ, so you can decide which one fits the documents on your desk.
What mail merge is good at
Mail merge has been part of Word for decades, and for its core job it is hard to beat. It is free, it runs on your own machine, and your data never leaves it.
- True bulk output. One clean spreadsheet in, hundreds of letters, labels, envelopes or emails out. That is what it was built for.
- No extra software. It is already installed. There is nothing to buy, sign up for, or learn beyond Word itself.
- Structured sources. It pulls merge fields from Excel, Outlook contacts and databases, which is exactly right when your data already lives there.
Side by side
| Word mail merge | Run Done | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup model | Insert merge fields into your document and connect a structured data source such as an Excel sheet. | Upload the Word document you already use. No merge fields to insert; the document is filled in place. |
| Where data comes from | A structured source: Excel, Outlook contacts or a database. Someone still retypes values from IDs and scans into that source first. | The materials you already have: photos of IDs, scans, PDFs and text. No retyping into a spreadsheet. |
| Works inside Word? | Yes, it is a built-in Word feature. | Yes, through a Word add-in that fills the open document. Our AppSource submission is in progress. Also available as a web app. |
| Formatting handling | Microsoft documents that source formatting is not retained on merge: dates can render as 1995-10-22 00:00:00 and phone numbers as -7081234567.00. The documented fix is editing field codes with picture switches. | The document is filled in place. Fonts, headers, spacing and layout stay exactly as you set them. |
| Review flow | No per-value review. You preview merged output and check documents by reading them. | Every entered value is reviewed one by one. Anything not found in your materials stays blank rather than guessed. |
| Pricing model | Free, included with Word. | Priced by document volume, with a 50-document free trial. Pricing is not final while we are in early access. |
When to pick mail merge
- Your data already lives in a clean spreadsheet or database, and you need many near-identical documents from it: bulk letters, labels, envelopes, mailings.
- You want a free tool that runs entirely on your own machine.
- You are comfortable maintaining merge fields, and field-code switches when dates or numbers render oddly.
When to pick Run Done
- Your data does not start in a spreadsheet. It arrives as photos of IDs, scans, PDFs and text, and today someone retypes it.
- You fill the same document a few at a time, not hundreds at once, and each one needs to be checked value by value.
- Formatting matters and you do not want to maintain merge fields or field codes. Your existing document is filled as it is.
The two tools can coexist. Offices that run true bulk mailings from a spreadsheet keep using mail merge for that, and use Run Done for the documents whose data arrives as scans and photos.
The facts about mail merge on this page were checked on 11 August 2026 against Microsoft's public support pages. If anything here is out of date or unfair, write to hello@rundone.ai and we will correct it.
See it on your own documents
Your first 50 documents are free. Upload a document you already use and the materials you have, and download the finished file.