Insert Field

[Guest]

How do I insert a field that I want to fill in on each
merged document, without it showing up on every letter.
I have done merges before, but I have never needed to do
this before. It seems to be that I should probably use
ask or fill-in, but I don't really understand how to use
them correctly. Stuck... can anybody help?

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

How do I insert a field that I want to fill in on each

merged document, without it showing up on every letter.
I have done merges before, but I have never needed to do
this before. It seems to be that I should probably use
ask or fill-in, but I don't really understand how to use
them correctly.

Why do you want to fill it in, if you don't want to see it?
If you can tell us the purpose, we'd be able to help you
better

It also never hurts to know which version of Word we're
dealing with?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update
Sep 30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

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[MaryP]

I'm using Office XP. I'm simply trying to address each
receipient personally, e.g. Dear Susan or Dear Mr.
White. Thanks.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Hi Mary,

The best thing to do is to add a field for the salutation in the datasource.

Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi MaryP,

Then a Fillin field is probably what you're looking for.

Display the Mail Merge toolbar and click the "Insert Word
Field" button. Choose "Fillin".

The dialog box is fairly self-explanatory. Be sure to NOT
click the little checkbox, at the bottom.

Your biggest problem is finding out which record you're
being prompted for, as the mail merge executes. The best
thing to do is to nest a merge field or two into the prompt
text. This can't be done over the dialog box, you have to
edit the field direclty:
- Press Alt+F9 to display the field code
- Position the cursor in the prompt where you want to see
the current value of a merge field
- Insert the merge field (just as you would when building a
merge document)
- When you're finished, Alt+F9 again to hide the field codes

I'm using Office XP. I'm simply trying to address each
receipient personally, e.g. Dear Susan or Dear Mr.
White. Thanks.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any
follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail