Mail Merge Mayhem

[smackedass]

First let me say, that I had used mail merge in the past, and when I used it
routinely, it was easy enough to keep the records updated, and everything on
an even keel...

Until, the first time that the data source, documents and labels had to be
moved, due to a hard drive re-install, or any other reason. Then everything
got de-linked, and it seemed fruitless to do anything other than start over.

Now, for the first time, I'm using mail merge in Word 2003. When I started
to use it, it looked a little bit different, I said to myself, great!, it's
probably new and improved.

And now the news.

It's more confusing than ever. Applications are supposed to be made for
USERS, not other PROGRAMMERS. SQL this, "Select" that. I get the
impression that if I don't finish the entire goddamn project from the time I
sit down at my computer til the time that I finish typing out labels for 110
Christmas cards, I might as WELL HAVE JUST TYPED THE LABELS OUT MANUALLY,
ONE BY ONE, SINCE IT'S GOING TO BE A SEPARATE PROJECT TO JUST FIGURE OUT HOW
TO RETRIEVE MY GODDAM DATA.

Vent over...my question is:

How come when I go to print my merged data, onto my labels, I only get one
page?

And, are there any general tips, on how to keep this, um clusterfuck
together, so that I DON'T have to start over again, every time that I want
to update my database?

Thank you.

smackedass, dba


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[stend3]

It sounds like you're just printing the preview page rather than
completing the merge. Make sure you follow the steps in the Mail Merge
task pane all the way to the end (there are six steps). The last one
is to complete the merge. Send it to a new document, and you'll have
as many pages as you need to print a label for everyone on your list.
You can send it directly to the printer as well, but you'll want to
have your labels already inserted in the printer if you go that route.

This probably isn't what you want to hear right now, but for future
reference, you can link to existing data sources rather than retyping.
Make the necessary updates in the data source and save and close (I'm
assuming it was created in, say Excel*). I believe choosing a data
source is step 3. Click the Browse link, locate the old data source,
and double-click it. Then you're set.

*If the data source was created through the Mail Merge process, you'll
want to link to it first, then edit the data in the next step in the
task pane.

 

[smackedass]

Stend3,

Yeah, I kind of sort of understand what you're saying, but I've been down
this road before, and it always seems to go wrong, at some point. I just
wish that MS would make this a LITTLE easier to negotiate, from beginning to
end. I'm pretty savvy, but as many times as I've tried, I have never done a
mail merge, without one hitch or another.

Thanks for replying.

smackedass