Mail merge in Word2003.

[aurion22]

I want to hide blank lines when I merge in Word 2003. This was easy in
previous versions but now I can't find the option to suppress blank lines.

 

[Tony Jollans]

This option is only available in the old Mail Merge, which is still
available but rather hidden.

Go To Tools > Customize > Commands tab. Select All Commands from the list on
the left and then scroll down the list on the right to find "MailMerge".
Click and drag this to the Mail Merge toolbar (or anywhere else you fancy) -
it will appear as "Merge...". You can then use this (instead of the new
buttons) to actually do the merge after you've set it up and will have the
"suppress blank lines" option.

 

[aurion22]

Thanks, Tony .. I'll try that tomorrow. In the end I gave up and used an
earlier version of Word in which the merge was simple!

 

[aurion22]

Just tried that, Tony, but I still didn't get the option to "suppress blank
lines". I just got the new sidebar for merging again. Any other ideas?
Thanks

 

[Graham Mayor]

The option is actually on the old mail merge *helper*, which by default is
not on the merge toolbar. What you need to add is all commands >
mailmergehelper.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Tony Jollans]

Yes, you still get the task pane - but when you come to do the merge itself
after you have set it all up, if you use the Merge button you have (now)
added instead of the new toolbar buttons or the task pane link - it is at
that point that you will get the old option.

You can, as Graham says, use the old MailMerge Helper for the whole thing
but I prefer to have some of the extra flexibility of the new version whil
keeping the old option available as well - the best of both worlds!

 

[aurion22]

Thanks, Graham .. that looks promising .. it's good to see the old dialogue
box again!

 

[Morisot]

Graham! THANK GOD I FOUND YOU - and "mailmerge helper" !

(Can you tell I just switched from Office 2000 to 2003!) I couldn't filter
by several categories? I couldn't do a proper sort? I was looking in all the
Office 2003/WORD books at the library. I was thinkin' "No wonder Bill Gates
left!"
....but, you helped! I pulled mailmerge helper up to my toolbar and I'm a
happy camper. (But I may be back.)

M.

 

[aurion22]

Actually, Morisot, I've used Word 2003 a lot for mail merge since my initial
problem in January and I've found the "Mail Merge Recipients" window (third
icon from the left on the MM Toolbar) very useful in selecting and sorting.
Keep going!

Graham! THANK GOD I FOUND YOU - and "mailmerge helper" !

(Can you tell I just switched from Office 2000 to 2003!) I couldn't filter
by several categories? I couldn't do a proper sort? I was looking in all the
Office 2003/WORD books at the library. I was thinkin' "No wonder Bill Gates
left!"
...but, you helped! I pulled mailmerge helper up to my toolbar and I'm a
happy camper. (But I may be back.)

M.

 

[Morisot]

Thanks, aurion22 -

The "mail merge recipients" looks like it will come-in handy.

Looking forward to exploring a bit more---now that I've found out how to get
the old things to work! (Can't figure out why they would bury such a useful
feature as the "mailmerge helper.")

Thanks, again.

M.