Include Picture - mail merge for word

[Kieran_Hannigan]

Version: 2008
Processor: Intel

Hi,

I have used Includepicture in mail merge before on Window machines and it has worked a treat.

I have not been able to get it to work on my shiny new mac yet.

On windows machines the code is {INCLUDEPICTURE "E:\\Documents and Settings\\Photos\\{MERGEFIELD Photo_location}"}

What should it be on Macs? I have tried ":" and that hasn't worked for me. I wondered if it was the spaces at the begining {INCLUDEPICTURE 'Macintosh HD:Users:joesoapocuments:{MERGEFIELD Photo_location}" )

All thoughts, epsecially those inspired by successul use, are very welcome.

Thanks,
Kieran

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Kieran:

Forward slashes will work on the Mac, as well as colons.

However, why would you use an Include Picture? Why not simply embed the
picture in the Main Document?

See if this helps:
http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_graphics.htm

And don't forget to double your separator characters!

Cheers

Version: 2008
Processor: Intel

Hi,

I have used Includepicture in mail merge before on Window machines and it has
worked a treat.

I have not been able to get it to work on my shiny new mac yet.

On windows machines the code is {INCLUDEPICTURE "E:\\Documents and
Settings\\Photos\\{MERGEFIELD Photo_location}"}

What should it be on Macs? I have tried ":" and that hasn't worked for me. I
wondered if it was the spaces at the begining {INCLUDEPICTURE 'Macintosh
HD:Users:joesoapocuments:{MERGEFIELD Photo_location}" )

All thoughts, epsecially those inspired by successul use, are very welcome.

Thanks,
Kieran

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Kieran_Hannigan]

Thanks a million John.

I will have a look at that later today nd let you know how I get on.

I use the INCLUDEPICTURE function as I am creating a catalogue - actually a cast list and it is dynamic - with new people being added all the time and a I run all the odcs off a mail merge, I want to do it for the pics too.

Ta, K

 

[Kieran_Hannigan]

Hi There

Okay, it is still not all the way there.

Below is the exact code I am using now. Any reason why it should not be working?

{ INCLUDEPICTURE "Macintosh HD//Users//kieranhannigan//documents//contacts//pics//{ Mergefield "Pic_Name" }" }

Your help might save a man pulling out his hair.

Best,
Kieran

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi There

Okay, it is still not all the way there.

Below is the exact code I am using now. Any reason why it should not be working?

{ INCLUDEPICTURE "Macintosh HD//Users//kieranhannigan//documents//contacts//pics//{ Mergefield "Pic_Name" }" }

Your help might save a man pulling out his hair.

Best,
Kieran

Hi,

Try something like this:

{ INCLUDEPICTURE \d HardDrive:Users:UserNameicturesic_Name.jpg
\*MERGEFORMAT }

Notice the colons instead of slashes. I used \d switch so that Word
would not store any picture information - just display the picture.
Also, I used the picture's extension (.jpg).

This works for me for a variety of picture types.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are independent experts who are not affiliated with Microsoft.


Visit my blog
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i7JMeio7cqvhotIUwCzaJWq9

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Kieran:

Are you remembering to "Update Fields" in the merge documents after you
merge?

INCLUDEPICTURE fields are not "Hot" fields, you have to update them to make
the picture appear.

Cheers

Hi There

Okay, it is still not all the way there.

Below is the exact code I am using now. Any reason why it should not be
working?

{ INCLUDEPICTURE "Macintosh
HD//Users//kieranhannigan//documents//contacts//pics//{ Mergefield "Pic_Name"
}" }

Your help might save a man pulling out his hair.

Best,
Kieran

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Kieran_Hannigan]

Hi John,

Thanks for your help. Sadly, it is still not working. Have updated fields yes, but to no avail.

I am going to concede defeat for the moment and trick about with it over time. I will post the answer when it comes.

Thanks again for your help.

Ta, K

 

[chet]

Hi Kieran,

I had the same trouble a few weeks ago, and found it very frustrating that
dynamically merging in pictures from the filesystem worked perfectly well on
my Windows machine with an older version of Word and not on my Mac with the
latest version of Word.

I managed to solve it as follows:
The trick is to drag and drop fields from the Toolbar / merge window list of
fields into your document.
Typing in the field definitions as you would do in Windows Word is far to
straight forward for the Mac : )

Drag an INCLUDEPICTURE field from the Merge window into your Document. Type
in the full path (single slashes or colons both work). Needs to be the full
path from either root (/) or from HD. You can't use ~ to start from your user
home dir.
Once you've typed in the path, drag the Field that contains your filename
and DROP IT INTO THE RIGHT PLACE WITHIN THE INCLUDEPICTURE field you dragged
and dropped earlier. i.e. drag and drop it in after the path you type in
earlier.

For some reason, dragging and dropping these fields makes Mac Word realise
that they're live and dynamic. Otherwise if you type it in, Mac Word just
keeps them static and literal.

After the Merge, you still need to do the usual SelectAll then UpdateFields
like you would in Windows Word. Tip for Mac OS X, I turn off all the function
key shortcut settings under the General settings->Keyboard and then can
easily press Cmd+A followed by Func+F9.

I'm a new Mac user for only the last 2 months...it comes up trumps on
everything compared to my old Windows PC, except for this little oddity from
Microsoft.

Good luck,

Chetan Tolia

 

[chet]

Hi,

Slight correction to the instructions above.

1. Insert an INCLUDEPICTURE field using Insert -> Field -> IncludePicture
2. Toggle Field Codes ON for the inserted field (you'll see the {
INCLUDEPICTURE...}
3. Add in the path name where the pictures are located after the
INCLUDEPICTURE word. You should have something like:
{ INCLUDEPICTURE "/Users/chet/Documents/images/" \* MERGEFORMAT }
4. Under the Mail Merge Manager toolbar/window (if not visible then check
Tools -> Mail Merge Manager) expand "3. Insert Placeholders"
5. Now drag the field containing your filename to the right place in the
INCLUDEPICTURE field i.e. in between the last / and the close "
6. You should now see the actual filename of the first record e.g.
abcde.jpg. This is normal
7. Now Toggle the field code, and you'll see the name of the file switch to
the field { MERGEFIELD fieldname}
8. Continue with the Complete Merge and it should work.
(don't forget to Cmd+A then Fn+F9 to update all fields in the resulting doc)

Regards,

Chetan

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Chetan:

Very nice instructions! It is so good to see other users putting a bit of
expertise back into this forum. Please, continue

You CAN type fields in on the Mac too -- the trick is to get the Field
Bounding Braces in place. You can't "type" these (either side of the
fence...) you have to "Insert them".

On the Mac, it's Command + F9 to insert a pair of field bounding braces.

After you do that, your INCLUDEPICTURE field ought to be alive and well

Cheers

Hi,

Slight correction to the instructions above.

1. Insert an INCLUDEPICTURE field using Insert -> Field -> IncludePicture
2. Toggle Field Codes ON for the inserted field (you'll see the {
INCLUDEPICTURE...}
3. Add in the path name where the pictures are located after the
INCLUDEPICTURE word. You should have something like:
{ INCLUDEPICTURE "/Users/chet/Documents/images/" \* MERGEFORMAT }
4. Under the Mail Merge Manager toolbar/window (if not visible then check
Tools -> Mail Merge Manager) expand "3. Insert Placeholders"
5. Now drag the field containing your filename to the right place in the
INCLUDEPICTURE field i.e. in between the last / and the close "
6. You should now see the actual filename of the first record e.g.
abcde.jpg. This is normal
7. Now Toggle the field code, and you'll see the name of the file switch to
the field { MERGEFIELD fieldname}
8. Continue with the Complete Merge and it should work.
(don't forget to Cmd+A then Fn+F9 to update all fields in the resulting doc)

Regards,

Chetan

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[alightstone]

It's reassuring that this can be done on a Mac.

My question for you all is this: Are you all just wanting to put the file path for your image directly into Word? Have any of you tried placing the file path for different images within a spreadsheet, and then using the spreadsheet as the mail merge data source for variables that might include text,such as names and email addresses, but also links to various images? If so, have you found success?

I've managed to do this on a PC running Word 2003, but I have not yet foundsuccess on my Mac version of Word.