changing "File Name and Path" in merge document

[bird lover]

I use Word 2000 in a XP environment.
In non merge documents, the path of the document appears in the footer
allowing me to locate the file. My procedure for creation is
1. VIEW , then Header and Footer then click on Footer Area, then INSERT,
then auto text, then File Name and Path.
Question:
I've created a merge document which includes the above procedure and the
merge file AND PATH is saved as f:\PERSONAL\MERGEFILE-ALPHA and saved as a
read only document.
Then I call up the read only document, and merge. I save the document as
F:\letters\TEST. When I print out the document witht the merged document,
the path in the header is f:\PERSONAL\MERGEFILE-ALPHA.

REQUEST: How can I make the path in the resultant merge file read
F:\letter\test or whatever path results in the directory in which the
document is saved.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Unfortunately Word resolves FILENAME fields when it merges so the text is
fixed at the value it had in the mail merge main document.

A workaround is to use an INCLUDETEXT field which is preserved during the
merge as follows:

Create a new document called filenamep.doc (let's say it is in c:\myfiles\)

Insert the field { FILENAME \p }

Select the field (but not the following paragraph mark - display paragraph
marks etc. to avoid doing that

Use Insert bookmark to create a bookmark called fnp

Save and close the document.

In your header/footer, insert an INCLUDETEXT field roughly as follows:

{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myfiles\\filenamep.doc" "fnp" }

Merge to a new document and save it.

Select the header/footer and press F9 to update the INCLUDETEXT. (You may
have to do this for multiple headers/footers depending on your document
layout, and it may make sense to use a macro to do it).

A drawback of using an INCLUDTEXT file in this way is that the resulting
document is tied to another file, which may also linked to by files you
created in other merges. If you do not need to preserve the field, you can
unlink it using ctrl-shift-F9 after you update it.

There may be a simpler way than that, but right now I can't think of it.

Peter Jamieson