adding names to a recipient file

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Assuming that you are using Word XP or 2003, from the View menu, select
Toolbars and place a checkbox against the Mail Merge item. Then you can
customize that toolbar (Tools>Customize) by selecting the All Commands
Category and locating the Mail Merge Helper item and click and drag it onto
the toolbar. Using the Mail Merge Helper, you should be able to edit the
data source.

Another way is to use a Directory type mail merge main document to which you
attach the data source and in the main document, insert a one row table with
as many columns as you have fields in your data source and into the cells of
that table, insert the merge fields. When you execute that merge to a new
document, that document will contain a table with a row of data for each
record in the data source. You can then insert a row at the top of the
table and into that row insert the names of the fields in your original data
source. You can then edit the data in that table or add or delete rows and
save it and use it as a data source.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Graham Mayor]

And if you are using Word 2007 select Edit Recipient List then select the
list in the lower window of the dialog box which makes the edit tools
available. In Word 2003 you should be able to edit the data source from the
mailmerge toolbar.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Dr. Dave]

using the wizard, once I've entered all my contacts and gone on to the next
step, how do I edit existing names or add more names to the contact mailing
list. It only lets me sort or filter, etc. Thanks.

 

[Dr. Dave]

the Edit button is not lit up and nothing happens when I press it!

 

[Dr. Dave]

sorry, I didn't understand your reply. I clicked on the name of the
recipient list and the edit button lit up. thanks for you help.

 

[mwballenger]

I've been having a similar issue, and looking at other newsgroups, it does
not seem to be isolated. What I haven't found is a resolution

When editing a name in the recipient list of the mail-merge, I am unable to
save the data file (in Word) that the mail-merge data is being drawn from.
When I go to close the Word application, it asks to save the merged file,
then to update the data file. When I go to update the data file, it gives me
one of two errors--depending on whether I'm saving to a network or local
drive:

If saving to a network drive, I get a "read only" file error.
If saving to a local drive I get a "permission to write" error.

I've tried this with .docx and doc extensions for the data file, with the
same error. I've been able to duplicate the error on multiple machines (all
running XP and Office 2007 Enterprise). The data file is in table format in
Microsoft Word, I've not attempted to duplicate the issue using Access or
Excel data files.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I do not have a resolution for you, but FWIW on Vista
a. I reported the network-related problem well over a year ago, but the
chances are it wasn't considered a priority for fixing in SP1 or any other
update.
b. I believe the problem relates to data sources that are opened directly
by Word via its internal converters (e.g. .docx, .doc, some .htm, .rtf fiels
or external text converters (.txt and other plain text files that are not
opened by OLE DB/ODBC, and other word processing formats), but not data
sources opened via OLE DB that Word considers to be editable. It affects
files accessed via network shares (and in most cases, that means through
mapped drive letters too) wherever they are located - i.e. even if the share
is actually on your local drive.
c. There are now several different sets of security rules on a typical
Windows-based network node that might have an impact on this, e.g.
i. Windows file system settings (e.g. is the file or folder
read-only?)
ii. Windows networking settings (e.g. does the user have write
permissions to the network share)
iii. Internet Explorer security settings
iv. Word/Office "Trust Center" settings
(It's difficult to see why (iii) should have an impact but there was/is an
issue involving Windows Server 2003, IE Settings, and Mailmerge data sources
that suggests to me that this posibility cannot be ruled out - particularly
as opening a file through some IE proxy seems highly likely to render the
file unwriteable/unsaveable)
Unfortunately, none of the experiments I have done with any of the above
settings has made any difference.I don't think (iv) has any bearing on the
matter. (i) and (ii) obviously should, but in essence if you have the
permissions necessary to edit the file as a normal Word document, you ought
to have the permissions to edit it when Word opens it as a data source.
Unless, of course, Word does not use your security credentials when it opens
the file as a data source. but even if I give all possible permissions to
"Everyone" for the file, the folder and the share it makes no difference.
d. When the Mail merge main document is opened from a network share and you
get the prompt to save the data source when you close the main document, the
message uses a temporary name for the main document instead of the name of
the file you actually opened. This suggests that Word (or perhaps this is
just Vista) is using temp files for everything it opens from the network,
which suggests that it might actually be using some inappropriate caching
mechanism such as offline files. But perhaps that's just a red herring.

I think I'll raise this one again, primarily to see if anyone knows whether
ticking a specific security-related box might do the trick. But don't hold
your breath.

What I do find interesting is that you get problems even with files on a
local drive. I don't, here. However, I have Admin level permissions here.
Does it make any difference what folder you put the file in? (e.g. in "My
Data Sources"?)