mail merge, why 1 whole page of one contact? I want individual lab

[Melissa]

Okay so I have done a mail merge (using Word 2003) and I have created the
label and then under arrange labels I clicked on "Update all labels" but once
I merge I end up with one whole page of labels per mail recipient instead of
one label per recipient ... I don't need a page a person, please help, I have
tried everything!

Thanks, Melissa

 

[Peter Jamieson]

If you look at the mail merge main document you should see a Word field that
looks either like this

<<Next record>>

or like this

{ NEXT }

at the beginning of each label except the first. (use Alt-F9 to switch
between the <<Next record>> view and { NEXT } view.

The correct { NEXT } fields should be inserted when you do the Update
labels, but if for some reason (I cannot think of one) they are not, you can
insert the { NEXT } fields manually as follows:
a. click at the beginning of the second label
b. press ctrl-F9 to insert a pair of the special field code braces {} (you
can't just type them)
c. type NEXT between the { } to give you { NEXT }
d. select the { NEXT }, then ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard, then
e. click at the beginning of the next label
f. ctrl-V to insert the { NEXT } field
g. repeat (e) and (f) until there is a { NEXT } field for each label except
the first.

Peter Jamieson

(with the label layout and the merge fields) and press Alt-F9, you should
see a number of fields in each label

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

See the article "Mailmerge Labels with Word XP" on fellow MVP Graham Mayor's
website at

http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm


--
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

 

[Melissa]

Peter thank you for the quick reply ... I do see the <<next record>> at the
very top of each label however when I merge it still does an entire sheet per
name ... I am so confused?! Any suggestions now?! *L*

Thanks, Melissa

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Hi Melissa,

1. Are you "completing the merge", i.e going to the very end of the merge
process? (It doesn't sound like you are just "previewing" the merge results
but maybe you are doing something else I haven't thought of!)

2. Does your data source definitely only have one record for each recipient
(label)? If for example you create a new merge but choose (say) "Letters"
rather than "Labels", put a few fields from your data source in the Mail
Merge Main Document, then merge to an output document, is each Letter have
different information in it?

Peter Jamieson

 

[Melissa]

yes going right to the end ... I even tried starting from scratch incase I
had checked off the wrong source or something! When I enter my format for my
first label and then hit update all labels it comes up as next record and
everything, I have doubled checked my data source 3 times and I have gone as
far as printing the document, it just won't give! I am at the point where I
think I am just going to maually type the names in ... I think my computer
secretly hates me *LOL* thanks for all your help, I really appreciate the
effort!

Melissa

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Which label format are you using?

I don't suppose you have done anything like add text boxes or frames to the
layout?

Have you tried
a. outputting your labels to a new document before printing
b. my suggestion (2)

Peter Jamieson