Mail merge with graphics direct to PDF

[Divinite]

Hello,

I have a document that is filled with customized mail merge images.
This is the second year we are producing this document and last year,
I merged the whole file, used the outline feature to create separate
documents then ran a batch PDF to get the final versions.

I have since found a few issues with this:

- We have updated our formatting and the new formatting will not show
up properly using the outline split file.
- The final merge file size is now too large for Word to handle (about
350MB), especially when you have to update images

I've tried merging directly to PDF which has the primary advantage of
keeping all formatting with no issue and eliminating an extra few
steps in the process. However, it does have one very large issue:

- Merging directly to PDF does not update the images in the file
before merging

There are too many files to do each one individually.

Does anyone have a way around this or ideas to setup something
automated to meet this goal?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

The add-in that I have created that you can download from the following page
of fellow MVP Graham Mayor's website:

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

will create separate documents from a mailmerge with each document saved
with a name taken from a field in the data source and can also create each
of the separate documents as a .pdf file. If those .pdf files do not have
the fields updated to display the picture, it would be a simple matter to
incorporate a command to update the fields in the document before each one
is saved and the .pdf created.


--
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

 

[Divinite]

Thank you! That has helped some, but I have encountered a few issues:

- The add-ins bar is not showing (2007) and it is not keeping my
existing template. I tried applying my style template as the default
to the add-in, but that did not work.
- The last file in the merge is generating an error and only producing
half the document (the last half at that!)

The images look like they are updating just fine.

Any ideas?

Thank you,
Jessica

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You do not need the add-ins bar. I assume that when you execute the merge
to a new document, you are being asked whether you want to create a separate
document for each record and are then being given the dialog to select the
field that contains the desired filename and in which you check the box to
create .pdf's. Is that correct?

The add-in will make use of the template that was used to create the mail
merge main document, BUT that template must NOT contain any auto macros.

If you answer No to the question about creating individual documents, is the
last record merged correctly?

--
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

 

[Divinite]

Yes, when the merge is executed, I am asked if I want to separate into
separate files. This only happens the first time and if there is an
error, the process stops and it will not ask if I try to run the merge
again. I've checked the box to create PDF's, but it also does not
accept the settings from the print setup and prompts for filename and
opens each file regardless of the settings.

My template does not contain any macros, just a new style set that
we've created. So far, the only way I've found to use it is to set it
as the default file set for all new documents, which I would prefer
not to do since we use multiple style sets. From my understanding,
the add-in would remove this need, which is exactly what I'm looking
for.

If I answer "no" the entire merge completes without issue.

Thank you,
Jessica

 

[Graham Mayor]

Press ALT+F8
In the Macros In window select MMtoDocsRev28.dot
You will see the macros in that template listed. The one in question is
called 'CreateMergeTemplate'. Run the macro to create the template with the
merge document open.
I am however puzzled why the add-ins tab is not displayed when the add-in is
clearly available?

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

To avoid being asked for the .pdf filename and the result of the .pdf
creation from being displayed, you need to go to the Properties dialog of
the Adobe PDF printer and uncheck the boxes for those features.

--
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

 

[Graham Mayor]

The instructions for setting up three versions of Acrobat are provided on
the web page from which the download was obtained -
http://www.gmayor.com/individual_merge_letters.htm

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Divinite]

I did this and got the following error:

Run-time error '5121':

Word experienced an error trying to open the file.
Try these suggestions:
* Check the file permissions for the document or drive (they're fine)
* Make sure there is sufficient free memory or disk space (there's
plenty)
* Open the file with the text recovery convertor (Word had problems
with this too)

There are no macro's in the document, just styles. Files are stored on
our company file server (which is a Mac OS Leopard server). I'm on XP/
2007. It appeared to get most of the way through the process and from
what I could tell when it was flashing by it may have gotten to the
same place in the file where the merge had issues. All data are the
same for each group, all are text only in Excel. Some do have line
breaks or bullets in the text, but these ones worked fine. Graphics
being merged are all the same file type (emf).

Any ideas? I thought it was weird too.

 

[Divinite]

I've gone into print setup before running the merge and changed these
settings, but it still reverts to asking for file name and opening
files, even if I've done nothing between saying "okay" on the setting
change and running the merge.

Any ideas?
thank you!

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If you just try to create a .pdf by using the Adobe PDF printer from an
ordinary document, does it still ask for the filename and display the
results of the creation?

--
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