Turning Word into a Pseudo-Database by Using Mail Merge Query Options
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/MMergeQueryOptions.htm

Rado, Dave
Word MVP Site, The
2005

Abstract:

Purists might argue that the power it gives ordinary users isn't necessary because they should use Access queries for this sort of thing and link the merge to the query. But in my experience, many people who are very comfortable working with Word and Excel find Access (or any full-fledged database application) very difficult to work with, and can get the job done far more quickly and easily using a combination of Word and Excel. At the end of the day, getting the job done is what matters. The vast majority of the world's databases (in terms of number of databases, rather than in terms of amount of data) are stored in Excel spreadsheets.