can i use mail merge to change headers throughout many different .

[Alex]

Hi,

I am wondering if there is a way to use mail merge, or something similar to
edit headers throughout many different documents.

I work in an architecture firm and we issue specifications all the time but
with different titles throughout the lifetime of a project. I was wondering
if there is any way to have a master document where i could change a header,
and have it then link to all of the rest of documents and change them
automatically as well.

Any help would be much appreciated. To change all of the headers throughout
all of the documents is very time consuming, especially when it needs to be
redone every month or so when we reissue them for something else.....

Thanks a lot
Alex

 

[LS]

Alex,

Not sure what type of info you put in your headers (project name, location
or section number and title) but this intrigued me so I did some testing.

I work with specs also so what I did was create a file titled "Project
Info", saved it to the same folder as my sections are, and in that document I
put the project name and location, each on a separate line (not sure that
matters though) and assigned a bookmark each (Client, Title, respectively) to
each. I then opened a master section and in the header put in the following
using the INCLUDETEXT field:

{ INCLUDETEXT “Project Info.doc†Client \* MERGEFORMAT}
{ INCLUDETEXT “Project Info.doc†Title \* MERGEFORMAT}

I then modified an AutoOpen macro that when opening each section, would look
to the Project Info.doc file and update the section accordingly. I save all
of my sections individually, not as one complete spec so each section just
had to be opened but it worked perfectly.

Hope this helps.

 

[Alex]

Hi LS,

Thanks a lot for your help. So most of what you said makes sense but i only
know a little bit about this process so a few questions. First, do you have
to recreate this master document and auto macro for every project you have,
or is this a one time thing that links to all projects once set up.

Also, I've only done a macro once and it was a few days ago when trying to
figure out if my original question was even possible. How do i set up an
auto open macro. Is it difficult?

Thanks again for your help
Alex

 

[LS]

Alex,

I happen to have a master spec template that I save all my spec stuff in
(numbering, styles, page layout, macros, etc.). I added my auto open macro to
this template so it is only available when I use a spec section. If you don't
have anything like that, you may want to create one as you wouldn't want that
macro to affect every (non-spec) document you open.

All of my master spec sections are set to look at this template. I don't
know if you have actual masters (non-project specific) or if you use sections
from project to project but if you create a spec template, you can attach it
easily enough to the sections you are using. I hope this makes sense.

Here is the macro:

Sub AutoOpen()
'
' AutoOpen Macro
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Dim sec As Section
Dim hdr As HeaderFooter
For Each sec In ActiveDocument.Sections
For Each hdr In sec.Headers
If hdr.Exists Then
hdr.Range.Fields.Update
End If
Next hdr
Next sec
End Sub

 

[Alex]

Hi LS

Over the past few days, i have been trying your ideas as well as talking
with an independent spec writer. I just completed answering my question,
without useing a macro and i wanted to let you know how i did it, because you
were interested in it in the first place.
Thanks a lot by the way, i liked your ideas but the macro kinda scared me.

Basically what i've done is set up a mail merge with fields like project
title, number, date, issue etc, and saved these all in an ACCESS file.
Basically i have inserted merge fields into a master non project related
specs. Each field then can show information that i insert into my ACCESS
file. Inside the file, i have a table with project specific information.
Basically each line in my table referes to a specific job, and by changing
any info in here, it automatically updates all of the specs. Each spec then
relates to what i think is called an ' address card ' with its project
specific info.

All i have to do each time i change the date, or issue then is update my
ACCESS file and perhaps open all of the documents so that they become
updated. TO me this sounds a lot like the way you have achieved answering my
problem but i just handled it without a macro.

Thanks again for all your help, even though i avoided the macro, it was your
idea to link the fields using the bookmark that gave me this thought.

Good luck in the future
Alex

Ill try and check again later in case you want more information on how i
made this work.

 

[LS]

Thanks for the update. One question though. I have never used Access but I'm
assuming you merge your Word doc. with it? If that is the case, I found that
when I had files set to merge (I used Excel instead), I found it to be quite
a pain to have to resave and/or rename the documents each time. Just my
opinion. Hope the way you sent it up works for you.

Leanne

 

[Alex]

Not sure i understand what you mean but it seems to be working fine

Thanks again
Alex

 

[Graham Mayor]

Thanks a lot by the way, i liked your ideas but the macro kinda
scared me.

Maybe http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm would make it less 'scary'
?

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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