Mailmerge counter in Word 2003, broken in SP3 (truncated to 2 digi

[David2233]

Since SP3, the record number displayed in the mail merge tool bar is
truncated to 2 digits. If you enter record number 145 the correct record is
merged but the box shows record number to be 14. As you step through the
records it will change to 15 when you reach record number 150. The box is
wide enough to accommodate 4 or 5 digits.

This worked fine prior to SP3.

David


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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...993&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

 

[Peter Jamieson]

This error was reported to Microsoft a couple of weeks ago or so. No idea
if/when it will be fixed.

 

[David2233]

If? they are going to fix it?

Considering it's something that used to work and then they broke it in SP3,
it should certainly be near the top of their list of things to do (IMHO).

It's hard to believe that I'm the only one affected by this. Doesn't anyone
else mail merge with more than 99 records?

Why don't I see other entries about this?

Thanks,

David

 

[Peter Jamieson]

If? they are going to fix it?

I don't work for microsoft so cannot know exactly what their plans are. I
would hope they would fix it, but there are other reported, unfixed errors
out there.

It's hard to believe that I'm the only one affected by this. Doesn't
anyone
else mail merge with more than 99 records?

I think you are the third person to have raised this point in this group.
SInce it's a fairly new problem, that counts as quite a lot of people given
the amount of traffic in this group. I certainly hope the people who use the
Microsoft communities pages to read these posts will vote for your
suggestion.

 

[Frank]

Your definitely not alone. I do a monthly mailer of about 2500 business
reply cards. Only the first two digits show. So if I am looking at record #
1569, I only see the number 15. I noticed this last month but had some other
issues to deal with before searching for a fix. My printer can only handle
500 pages at a time so I depend on this display to keep my place in the print
run.

In the grand scheme of things this may be a small issue but it annoys me
when an update breaks features that previously worked.

I will be watching for a fix.

Thanks

 

[VSlaybaugh]

You're not alone. I use this display every day in my job. I merge 500+
records multiple times a week. It is very frustrating that it doesn't work
anymore when it used to. I depend on this display. I don't want to have to
merge to new document to see if the correct number of documents will print
before I choose to merge to printer. Merging to new document takes forever
when there are hundreds to merge.

I sure hope they fix this soon!

 

[Emmanuel]

I've installed SP3 yesterday morning and since then, I also only see the two
first digits! This is VERY frustrating as I mailmerge more than 50,000
letters every day (I own a mailing company). This function is essential to me
and I really hope to get it back working as soon as possible.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Is it too late to go back to the previous version, e.g. using Windows XP's
System Restore facility? (Not that I find that completely reliable).

 

[Emmanuel]

Honestly, I don't believe in this System Restore - if even applicable on a
Service Pack. Maybe for a simple update, not for a Service Pack. The guys at
Microsoft will probably tell you that it is possible, but the same guys told
us that the SP3 would solve many problems - as far as I'm concerned, it's a
lot worse since the installation... You can uninstall Office entirely and
then install it again - without SP3 of course.

However, it is impossible for me to stay like this with only the two first
numbers. In my print room, we are 4 people and merge together between 60,000
and 300,000 pages every day !!

I'll find a cleaner solution myself in the next few days but right now, here
is my proposal : in a corner of the document, you put a little text box and
inside, the field "merge record #" (MERGEREC). Then, in the font attributes,
you select this field and you make it "hidden". It won't print on the
document, but you can see it on the screen and verify the record number
easily.

I recommend to put this field in a text box, so that the general layout of
your page doesn't move and is not modified. Besides, it is much more secure :
if you select the whole document to apply a font modification, there could be
the risk that the formatting changes and the field becomes apparent, I mean
printed on the paper. This will not happen when placed in a text box.

I hope that this is clear enough (I'm sorry for my English, I'm french
speaking). I'm already working with this new solution.

Emmanuel.

 

[Paula]

Unfortunately, I am having the same problem using SP2 and Word 2003

Paula

 

[Paula]

Unfortunately, this is also happening in Word 2003 using SP2.

Paula

 

[Vicky]

Emmanuel,

I want you to know that I tried your suggestion and it works beautifully for
me. I've been using it now for about 2 months and have had no problems.
Thanks for the very helpful suggestion.

 

[VSlaybaugh]

I've noticed this past week that it appears Microsoft has fixed this problem.
Probably an automatic recent update fixed this. I'm glad.

 

[Paula]

I've noticed this past week that it appears Microsoft has fixed this problem.
Probably an automatic recent update fixed this. I'm glad.

 

[Paula]

Yes, this works for us now also since some update from Microsoft.

Paula