Mail merge has lost significant functionality in Word 2003

[bdq]

Mail Merge in Word 2000 & before had interactive design of labels, allowing
individual fields to be positioned at will, variable fonts to be set etc etc.
Word 2003 only has the AddressBlock , with almost no ability to edit that I
can find. For example, I could set, say, the Name field to be bold and a
larger font in W2002 and this would be the template for all labels. Now I
have to generate a bulk standard label and apply edits retrospectively. This
is a significant decrease in functionality & usability, and a process that
was intuitive has now become the opposite. Why on earth has Microsoft taken
this out?! Put it back, please!!

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

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

Actually, if there were one thing about Word 2002/2003 mail merge I consider a
great improvement, it's creating labels. Did you never have the problem of
creating a label, then realizing you had forgotten something and had to start
all over again? Or copy/paste the labels, laboriously, in order to change the
entire sheet?

In Word 2002/2003 it should work like this:

1. I prefer to work from the Mail Merge toolbar

2. Choose the label merge type, select the label you want to use

3. Make sure the cursor is in the first label. Click on the "Fields" button in
the toolbar to display the list of field names. Insert the ones you want*

4. Set up the first label exactly how you want it, with formatting and
everything

5. Click the button "Propagate labels"... and watch Word copy the first label
across the entire sheet.

If you see you've made a mistake, just change the first lable, then click this
button again.

*I don't like the "Fields" dialog box AT ALL. It's utter nonsense, not being
able to work in the dialog box and the document at the same time. On my website,
you'll find
- a list of old mail merge interfaces, and how to get them back (including
the field list dropdown and the Mail Merge Helper)
- a macro to create your own field list dialog box, the way MS should have
done it

Mail Merge in Word 2000 & before had interactive design of labels, allowing
individual fields to be positioned at will, variable fonts to be set etc etc.
Word 2003 only has the AddressBlock , with almost no ability to edit that I
can find. For example, I could set, say, the Name field to be bold and a
larger font in W2002 and this would be the template for all labels. Now I
have to generate a bulk standard label and apply edits retrospectively. This
is a significant decrease in functionality & usability, and a process that
was intuitive has now become the opposite.

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

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