alphabetize mail merge recipients of public contacts

[Nate]

I searched your site but didn't find the answer to this
problem. Please help. I'm using Word XP and Outlook
XP. When I do mail merge from word and select from
outlook contacts and then select my public folder of
contacts, the mail merge recipients appear but they are
NOT alphabetized. I can refresh them and sort by certain
fields but my client expects the list to appear
alphabetized when it first opens just like the local
contact list is alphabetized the first time. Have you
heard of this problem? How do I default it to sort
automatically when it first comes up?

Thanks for your help. Nate

 

[Scott]

The button doesn't appear in Word (after 97, I think), but
its function is still there. You can get at it through
the Tools Customize menu and you'll find it "All Commands"
as MailMergeHelper. I have it mapped to a keaystroke, but
you can also run it as a macro or you can add it to a
toolbar.

Scott

 

[Peter Jamieson]

On the Mailmerge toolbar in Word 2002, there is an "Edit Recipients" button.
Use that, then clcik the column you want to sort on, again if you need to
reverse the direction of the sort.

But whether that will preserve the sort sequence when you re-open the
document is a different question - it should, but it doesn't work in all
scenarios.