Mail-Merge, Word, Access, and Address Labels

[ericm]

Hi,

I'm challenged with this problem : I have inherited pages of address in
label format. The Word document these labels are in are not in any sort of
order and they are not part of a mail-merge document; they are simply
addresses typed into Word. The user wants to do three things with them : 1)
Be able to add, remove, change labels for printing, 2) select which labels
should be printed, and 3) sort the labels. Basically the user wants the
information in what I'd guess to be a database for manipulation purposes, and
then mail-merge the selected addresses with Word to get address labels.

If I were starting off cold, I'd simply construct an Access database for
addresses. That would allow for editing, sorting and selection. Then I'd
somehow figure out to merge only the selected addresses into Word label
format: this I do not know how to do. This is my first question.

And I'm presented with a situation I'd rather not face: do the addresses
that are already typed into Word labels need to be re-typed into a database,
or is there a way to auto-fill the database with the existing information in
Word? It would be a one-time thing to populate the database. I realize this
may take a bit of magic, but this is my second question.

Thank you.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

The user wants to do three things with them : 1)

Be able to add, remove, change labels for printing

If you build a form, then you can delete old names that need
to be removed from the list

, 2) select which labels

should be printed

Assuming you have the addresses in a database in a table in access already,
I would suggest you simply build a nice little form, you can use the wizard
to do this.

All you have to do is simply add an additional field called

MailTo:

you can make this a true false field, and then simply be a check box on
the form. You can then simply check any name that you want to mail to, and
then
you base your labels report on a query with the condation:

MailTo = True.

You can also then go into the query builder and build a query that clears
all the mailto check boxes for next time use. Or perhaps even better, if you
have checked the MailTo ones you need, they might be the ones you need for
next time. So, over time you build up a list of the names that are
on the current mailing list, and then you have to do nothing for each
additional mailing that you do. Not knowing your actual particular
environment, each mailing might be a one time thing (hence you clear out
all the mailto's after one use..or you built it up over time and you don't
need the abilityt to "clear out" the Mailto Field.

So, you simply create an additional column in the
database with a MailTo as a yes/no field.

3) sort the labels

You can use the wizard to build a label report, and then you use the sorting
and grouping option in the report to sort by last name, first name, or
whatever criteria is your pleasure.

What this means if you're going to take the data from the word document make
sure you keep the first and last name as seperate fields. That way you can
use the data to create personalized form letters into word such as
Dear Mr <lastname>. and, with seperate first/last names, you can
sort by first, or last name for the list...

Basically the user wants the
information in what I'd guess to be a database for manipulation purposes,
and
then mail-merge the selected addresses with Word to get address labels.

You can send the data into word for merging, but you don't necessarily have
to use word in this case. You can build a labels report in an access report.
I think it would be better to use access report for your labels, as then you
can simply press a button to print this data, and not have to have the
intermediate step of sending it out to word, and then loading up word to
print the data.

If I were starting off cold, I'd simply construct an Access database for
addresses. That would allow for editing, sorting and selection. Then I'd
somehow figure out to merge only the selected addresses into Word label
format: this I do not know how to do. This is my first question.

As mentioned, you really don't necessarily have to send the data out to word
to do this, you should be able to use the access report writer and wizards
to build your labels that way. However if you must merge to work for other
things like form letters or perhaps letters of introduction etc.
then I would suggest you grab a copy of my easy mail merge here:

The sample I have can be found here:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/msaccess/msaccess.html

What is nice/interesting about my sample is that is specially designed to
enable ANY form with ONE LINE of code....

Make sure you read the instructions from above, and you should eventually
get to the follwoing page
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/wordmerge/page2.html

And I'm presented with a situation I'd rather not face: do the addresses
that are already typed into Word labels need to be re-typed into a
database,
or is there a way to auto-fill the database with the existing information
in
Word? It would be a one-time thing to populate the database. I realize
this
may take a bit of magic, but this is my second question.

The problem is parsing out the data into the correct fields and that is a
difficult task. I suppose you could simply create five fields called L1 to
l5
for the 5 lines of the label. Then it would be not that terrifically
difficult to parse the data out of the word document into those 5 fields.
However it's probably not a good idea to do that because then you wouldn't
have any sorting and grouping, and you would NOT know which of the five
fields is say the city or address field or company field...

 

[John... Visio MVP]

I provide help with Access, Excel and Word applications for a very
reasonable fee. I will build the database you want for a very reasonable
fee. The database will 1) Be able to add, remove, change labels for
printing, 2) select which labels should be printed, and 3) sort the labels.
A label report described by Albert will be included. If you want my help,
send a copy of the Word doc with the addresses to (e-mail address removed) and I
will be happy to give you a quote of my fees.

Steve

These newsgroups are provided by Microsoft for FREE peer to peer support,
not as a venue for you to con unsuspecting users.

Your record as an incompetent developer stands for itself.

John...