Mail Merge Different Photos - Word 2013 Headache!

[Veronica Loria]

Hi there,

I've been spending a number of days on this issue, and I would appreciate if someone can help.

I've got an Excel sheet of data fields, with a field containing the paths of photos that I would like to create an ID card Mail Merge onto Avery Labels.

I've been able to merge all the data I need using Word 2010 and 2013 with no issues, but the problems occur when attempting to include the photos.

The images themselves can merge just fine if brought alone, showing different images in different labels as desired.

However, it's when I try to position the image in a square layout -so that the data fields appear alongside the image on a label -as opposed to under it- that the process breaks down.

What happens is, only the first image gets pulled through, and it gets copied over to all the other labels (even when showing their different ID's in the labels, it's always the first image that gets copied throughout). I have tried saving the document and then pressing F9, tried saving it to XML as some have suggested then refreshing but no luck, it stays with only the first image being copied throughout.

In the document itself I use { INCLUDEPICTURE "{MERGEFIELD Photos}" } with Photos being the name of the field in Excel containing the path. I have used different variations of this command, I've put the paths in the Excel sheet in between double quotes yet still the problem remains. As soon as I try to change the layout of the photos so that the fields are displayed to the right of it, only the first image in the list comes through. Has anyone encountered this or can help?

Many thanks in advance,
Veronica

 

[Veronica Loria]

I believe I solved my issue, and the way to do it was basically to create a table of 2 cells (not create 2 separate cells), and then populate the first cell with the photo info, and the second cell would have the personal information.

This made sure that when updating the fields it updated both cells ensuring the photos came through with their personal data.

So the steps are as follows:
1) Open MS Word
2) Choose Mailings-->Start Mail Merge--> Choose Label (in my case it was Avery 3653)
3) Choose Mailings-->Select Recipient List-->Point it to Excel File
4) *This is key* in the first Cell (or Label) in the document, Insert a Table made of 2 Cells.
5) Place the Photo info in the left Cell, the personal info on the right.
6) Click update fields to replicate the same format throughout the document.
9) Choose Finish&Merge-->Edit Individual Document
10) Press CTRL-A, then F9, this will update all the document with the info from Excel, hopefully showing different photos with their corresponding personal data.