How do I setup a new Mailmerge. I dont want the old one!

[rmoritzky]

I have and old mail merge. I want a new one but I keep getting old fields and
old data even though I have new data in a new xls spreadsheet.

What do I have to do to start over? I can't get rid of the old data.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?cm1vcml0emt5?=,

Which version of Word do you have?

I have and old mail merge. I want a new one but I keep getting old fields and
old data even though I have new data in a new xls spreadsheet.

What do I have to do to start over? I can't get rid of the old data.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[rmoritzky]

I have MSW 2002 SP-2

Hi =?Utf-8?B?cm1vcml0emt5?=,

Which version of Word do you have?


Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)


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[rmoritzky]

I wrote a merge, uses excel data, works great. I am done with it. Need new
merge, similar data, similar form. I used the first for an outline to make
the second. The new form keeps changing back to the old. I cant get the new
data at all, keep gettin the old. Ive renamed everything, deleted and reset
up evetything and I still cant get the new form to give me the new data.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?cm1vcml0emt5?=,

I wrote a merge, uses excel data, works great. I am done with it. Need new
merge, similar data, similar form. I used the first for an outline to make
the second. The new form keeps changing back to the old. I cant get the new
data at all, keep gettin the old. Ive renamed everything, deleted and reset
up evetything and I still cant get the new form to give me the new data.

Hmmm. OK, you took a Word document that was/is linked to an Excel file for
mail merge. And then you made changes in the document, and used File/Save As
to create a new document? And does this new document retain the static text
correctly? It's only what you're seeing in the merge fields that's not doing
what you expect?

This would be the data coming in from Excel. When you say "new data", did you
add data to the Excel sheet and now you want to use the data you added? Or did
you try to link up to a different Excel workbook?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[rmoritzky]

"And then you made changes in the document, aound used File/Save As

to create a new document?"

YES.
"And does this new document retain the static text

correctly?"

YES
"It's only what you're seeing in the merge fields that's not doing

what you expect?"

NO. IN THE DOCUMENT AFTER CALLING THE WIZARD THE FIELDS IN THE DOCUMENT ARE
CHANGED TO THE OLD MERGE NAMES. BUT ALSO THE DATA IS COMING FROM
OLD MERGE.
"When you say "new data", did you

add data to the Excel sheet and now you want to use the data you added?"

I MADE A NEW EXCELL SHEET WITH NEW DATA, I DID NOT ADD.
"Or did

you try to link up to a different Excel workbook?"

YES, SEE ABOVE

NOT TO CONFUSE THE ISSUE BUT AFTER YOU ASKED ME ABOUT THE SAVE AS I THOUGHT
I WOULD TRY THAT AND I SAVED THE DOCUMENT AS AN RTF FILE.
IN THAT DOCUMENT I CHANGED SOME OF THE MERGE FIELDS NAMES. NOW I HAVE THE
NEW DATA, BUT I HAVE TO MATCH THE NEW NAMES IN MY DOCUMENT TO THE OLD NAMES
IN THE OLD DOC FILE. IT WORKS BUT NOW BUT NOW I HAVE TO MATCH THE NEW MERGE
FIELD NAMES TO THE OLD MERGE FIELD NAMES. I AM CONFUSED ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS
SO THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE THIS WEEKS NEW EXCEL SHEET WITH NEW DATA IN IT
BUT USE THE SAME DOC FILE I USED LAST WEEK.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?cm1vcml0emt5?=,

OK, I'm a bit clearer on what the situation is, although I admit to finding it a
bit odd. Can't remember having ever seen anything of the sort before...

1. Starting in the original document. File/Save As to a new document.

2. Alt+F9 to view the field codes. You should now see { Mergefield LastName }
(or whatever the field names are). Please select and DELETE all the mergefields
in the document.

3. Go to the button on the far left in the mail merge toolbar, click it, and
choose "Normal Word document"

4. Close the document, saving the changes.

5. Open it again.

6. Link up to the Excel workbook with the new data.

7. Insert the merge fields where you want to use them.

Does this work correctly? Note that I've added a few steps that wouldn't
strictly be necessary. But I want to see if this works before we "pare it down".

"And then you made changes in the document, aound used File/Save As
YES.
"And does this new document retain the static text
YES
"It's only what you're seeing in the merge fields that's not doing
NO. IN THE DOCUMENT AFTER CALLING THE WIZARD THE FIELDS IN THE DOCUMENT ARE
CHANGED TO THE OLD MERGE NAMES. BUT ALSO THE DATA IS COMING FROM
OLD MERGE.
"When you say "new data", did you
I MADE A NEW EXCELL SHEET WITH NEW DATA, I DID NOT ADD.
"Or did
YES, SEE ABOVE

NOT TO CONFUSE THE ISSUE BUT AFTER YOU ASKED ME ABOUT THE SAVE AS I THOUGHT
I WOULD TRY THAT AND I SAVED THE DOCUMENT AS AN RTF FILE.
IN THAT DOCUMENT I CHANGED SOME OF THE MERGE FIELDS NAMES. NOW I HAVE THE
NEW DATA, BUT I HAVE TO MATCH THE NEW NAMES IN MY DOCUMENT TO THE OLD NAMES
IN THE OLD DOC FILE. IT WORKS BUT NOW BUT NOW I HAVE TO MATCH THE NEW MERGE
FIELD NAMES TO THE OLD MERGE FIELD NAMES. I AM CONFUSED ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS
SO THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE THIS WEEKS NEW EXCEL SHEET WITH NEW DATA IN IT
BUT USE THE SAME DOC FILE I USED LAST WEEK.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[robert moritzky]

Thank you for your help. I have been able to make some progress.

I have a new issue with the same mail merge. After merging, zeros appear in
a small number of merged documents when the field does not contain zeros (its
blanks). The field is TEXT and after verifying through find/replace that the
field does not contain zeros I have reformatted the field. I can see no
pattern for the occurance of the zeros.Reformatting does not help. HELP

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?cm9iZXJ0IG1vcml0emt5?=,

I have a new issue with the same mail merge. After merging, zeros appear in
a small number of merged documents when the field does not contain zeros (its
blanks). The field is TEXT and after verifying through find/replace that the
field does not contain zeros I have reformatted the field. I can see no
pattern for the occurance of the zeros.

OK, if everything is how I imagine it, we're probably dealing with how the ODBC
driver is handing off the data. It looks at the first eight rows or so of the
Excel data and decides whether the column (field) is text or numeric. It doesn't
matter what you've set in Format/Cell, as this connection method doesn't use the
Excel formatting applied "on top" of the data; it sees only the data. That's the
explanation.

The way to FORCE a column (field) to be numeric or text is to select it, then
use Data/Text to columns. Walk through the steps in the Wizard (you should be
able to simply click "Next" if you're working with a single column) until Stpe
3. Here you can specify the data type (Text); this is written down to the level
where the mail merge will pick it up.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[rmoritzky]

That worked also.
Thank you very much for your help Im impressed with this site having only
used it once. I'll be back.