Mail merge is displaying unwanted lines

[Sunnie M]

Hello,

I have a mail merge that links to an Excel spread sheet. There can be up to
seven lines of data per page. When I do the merge, there is always one or two
lines of data that belong to one record but then appear on each following
record. It is never consistant. For example, record #23 can be displayed
correctly but then the last two line of that record are repeated on records
24-170. In the past I have cut and pasted the 'problem' line to the bottom of
my spread sheet and that seemed to work. Sometimes just closing out the merge
and re-opening has solved the problem.

I don't think there is anything wrong with my fields or formulas because it
is not a consistant issue.

I would appreciate any advice. Thank you.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

What type of mail merge main document is this?

How are you achieving the "up to seven lines of data per page"?

Is this a "key field" type operation where those "up to seven lines of data"
have the same data in one or more fields and you are attempting to have that
data, that is the same for multiple records, appear only once in the output?

--
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

 

[Sunnie M]

Sorry I am not great with terms but I created the document from scratch using
the mail merge toolbar. None of the data in the spread sheet is the same.
Basically, I have a spread sheet of defective merchandise for my company. So
each item will have the same criteria (column headers) but the numbers and
descriptions will vary. I have repeating columns, if you will. I have 7
column headers (types of data about the merchandise) listed 7 times (each has
a 1,2,3,4,5,6 after the header name so they could be differentiated in the
merge) I may have one item or I may have 10 items but I could only get 7 to
fit on the Word page (we wanted to keep it to one page.) So if there are 10
items then 7 would be on one page and 3 would be on another. Each one that I
enter should only appear once. I would never want anything to repeat.

Hopefully this makes some sense.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

It's not so much that it may not make sense, but it does not answer the
specific questions that I asked.

What type of mailmerge main document did you create - Letters, Labels,
Directory? How did you arrange the merge fields on that page?

Is the 7 columns of data and the 7 fitting on the page, just a coincidence?

Or is it just that only seven out of the possible 10 records will fit on the
page?


--
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

 

[Sunnie M]

The mail merge is a letter. The merge fields are arranged in three lines on
the letter. The first two lines contain 3 fields and the last line contains 1
field. I have a fourth line but these are just labels so a response can be
put in by the person receiving the letter. This pattern repeats as many times
as needed up to 7. The 7 columns and 7 lines on a page is just a coincidence.
If there are 10 records, I enter the last 3 on the next line on the spread
sheet and get a new letter for those 3. Thank you for your clarification.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You should use a Directory type mail merge main document in which you just
set up one set of the merge fields plus the fourth line of labels. If all
four lines are in one paragraph, format that paragraph so that the lines are
kept together. If there are multiple paragraphs, format all of the EXCEPT
for the last one so that they are kept together with the next one. Then
execute the merge to a new document.

--
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

 

[Sunnie M]

I will give this a try. Thank you for your help!