GettingWord to print what I want

[PT]

Can anyone help with these please. I have just started using Word 2003,
coming from Word 2000.

Question 1
Using an Excel spreadsheet as the data source I regularly produce a set of
address labels that includes a date. The date is formatted in the
spreadsheet like "Jul-06" and that is what I want to print in the labels.
Word 2000 did this without a problem but the new version of Word prints
"7/1/2006". This is even though all the defaults in Windows are set for
Australian styles which place the day before the month in dates like this.

Question 2
When opening a mail merge master document Word 2000 would automatically open
the Mail Merge toolbar as well and close it when the document closed. How do
I get Word 2003 to do this? I have to open the Mail Merge toolbar manually
each time I open a merge document.

Thank you,
Paul.

 

[Doug Robbins]

To get the date to display as you want, see "Formatting Word fields with
switches" on fellow MVP Graham Mayor's website at:

http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm

If you turn on the mailmerge toolbar via View > Toolbars, it should stay on
permanently. I has for me.

--
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

 

[PT]

Thank you Doug,
I have had a look at the help on that page and browsed round Graham's site.
The information he has at
http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm
is just what I was looking for. Making Word go to the Spreadsheet via DDE -
that is going back to the older method - solves the problem.
They seem to be trying to turn us into programmers - should not be necessary
especially when a couple of rather simple jobs each month is all the merge
is used for. This whole deal is a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a
walnut.

Yes, I have switched on the Mail Merge toolbar and it stays there but that
is not as neat as having it come and go automatically when it is needed
without having to start programming things.

Thanks again,
Paul.

 

[Pacific Iris]

After printing 198 labels and sticking them on the envelopes, I discovered,
to my horror, that the "address block" had not picked up the state column
from my Excel spreadsheet. The Post Office assures me that the mailings will
be OK with the zipcode but no state, but I'd like to figure out how to
prevent this from happening again. The "merge wizard" isn't smart enough to
pick up the state from my data, and I can't figure out out to penetrate the
"address block" to insert it.

 

[Doug Robbins]

Don't use the Address Block. Just insert the merge fields that you want in
the configuration that you want them.

--
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

 

[Pacific Iris]

1. The "wizard" forces you to use the "address block." The "wizard" is the
tool that Microsoft has provided to set up mail-merge in Word 2002.

2. You'd think the "wizard" would be smart enough to figure out that you
want state codes in address -- else, what use is it?

 

[Doug Robbins]

I never use the Wizard. From the View menu, select Toolbars and then check
the Mailmerge item to display the mailmerge toolbar. You can do everything
that you need to via the buttons on that toolbar.

--
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

 

[PT]

A thought after reading this thread -
How are you entering the address in the spreadsheet ?

I always find it best to put each element of an address in a separate column
so that street name & number, city, state, postal code and country are each
entered as separate fields. Same with the name -- Courtesy title, first name
or initials, and family name - all in separate fields. This leaves you with
flexibility to sort them as you wish if circumstances change. It also meand
you can ues your spreadsheed data for things other than just address
labels - name tag labeds for example.

These Wizards are often less that "Wizard".

Paul.

 

[Pacific Iris]

That's precisely how I entered the data. However, the "wizard" is a moron,
and it would have been better to put the state in the same column as the
city. This was the first time I was confronted with Word 2002, having easily
accomplished a similar task two weeks earlier with Word 97. I thought it was
reasonable to expect that the mail-merge "wizard" in 2002 -- confusing as it
was -- would work.

 

[Graham Mayor]

http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm will help you work
closer to the method you used in Word 97.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Pacific Iris]

I get "page not found" when I click the link. Thanks for trying, though.

 

[PT]

Hi Iris,
Try that link again - it worked for me and really helped me with some of the
same problems you are having. I jumped from Word 2000 to 2003 and was
knocked over by some of the really stupid "improvements".
Paul.
If you look at his page above that one at
http://www.gmayor.com/Word_pages.htm you will find a lot of other stuff that
is useful as well.

Paul

 

[Graham Mayor]

My web site was working this morning?

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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