Keep fields consistent regardless of length

[Rookie_User]

I have a mail merge that consists of fields that are varying lengths. For
example, there are two fields, name and category. I put them both in a table
and replicate them so the next record apears and so on - that works fine.
BUT if the title is two words versus ten words makes the category print in
different positions. How can I lock down the field titles so it will not
change? Incidently, these are actually the 3M Post-It lables - so there are
six to a sheet (page), they use 2x3 tables. I copy into each cell with "next
record" as the word field.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You can do it by splitting each of the six cells into two.

--
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

 

[Rookie_User]

I think I have or did . I originally had 2x3, two columns and three rows.
My source file has two columns in excel. The data A1 and B1 go in each cell
in the table. So I put those fields and then after that I put a word merge
field of next record and so on. When I double the rows -- so now its 2x6, I
can't get the "next record" to work correctly - can you expand how I would
set that up?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

I am not really sure what you are aiming for when you say "Keep fields
consistent regardless of length" But I had assumed that you wanted the
data from second mergefield to appear to appear at a constant position,
regardless of the length of the data in the first mergefield. For that
purpose I was suggesting that you split each of the existing cells of the
table into two rows as follows

___________________ ___________________
Mergefield A Next Mergefield A

-------------------------- --------------------------
Mergefield B Mergefield B
____________________ ___________________

___________________ ___________________
Next Mergefield A Next Mergefield A

-------------------------- --------------------------
Mergefield B Mergefield B
____________________ ___________________


___________________ ___________________
Next Mergefield A Next Mergefield A

-------------------------- --------------------------
Mergefield B Mergefield B
____________________ ___________________

--
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

 

[Rookie_User]

I hope you mean as I hit reply it automatically goes to the newsgroup - if
not then I apologize. It is something to figure out - I have a work around
it is just inconvenient. I agree with your concept - however the output must
be in the two column format. I mentioned earlier there are 3m Post It lables
that exist on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper, each sheet has six lables on it, two
columns and three rows. Each post needs mergefield A and below it mergefield
B. However, if the mergefield A is variable in length then it impacts where
mergefield B prints (all on the same post it), then I use "next record" and
it goes to the next post it and so on down the page. What I do now is put a
couple carriage returns after mergefieldA and then when I put it to a new
file I manually change it so it looks appropriate.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

The solid lines in my post indicate the upper and lower boundaries of the
table cell that represents each "Post-it" note. Labels in Word are just
tables with fixed cell dimensions. The dotted line is the cell boundary
between the upper and lower half of the "Post-it" note that is inserted by
splitting each cell into two.

--
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

 

[Rookie_User]

Whoops, I understand - it looks like its going to work - thank you for you
ritme and effort.