MailMerge - Word 2000

[Sandra via OfficeKB.com]

I currently have a database holding details of 400+ members.

Each member is to receive a letter containing standard text. Depending on
circumstances each member will need variable paragraph(s) inserting in the
same place within the document (somewhere in the middle of the standard text).

There are approximately 20 different paragraphs and one member might need two
of the standard paragraphs inserting whilst another might need nine of the
standard paragraphs inserting, etc.

I can't think of any way to link the individual paragraphs to each member's
record in the database to enable me to merge. Is this possible?

At the moment the paragraphs are just one long document.

The only way I can think of is to save each individual paragraph as an
autotext entry and then insert the required paragraph into the individual
letters, although this would mean re-typing all the names, address,
salutation again.

Peter Jamieson kindly explained IF fields. However, when I looked at the
paragraphs to be inserted many contained subheadings, parts of the text were
in colour, bullets, etc. Peter then suggested I search newsgroups for
examples of INCLUDETEXT, AUTOTEXT, etc. Can anyone please help with this
procedure?

Regards
Sandra

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Hi Sandra,

I didn't provide the details because I hoped what you had would be enough.

NB - you can search by going to groups.google.com and entering a few useful
keywords - if you search for INCLUDETEXT or AUTOTEXT and the name of one of
the regular contributors here such as Meister Robbins Mayor or Jamieson you
will probably find rather a lot of articles on these subjects. You can use
the advanced search there to restrict the search to the more recent
articles, which is usually helpful.

This is what you do, at least for INCLUDETEXT

Create a separate document - let's call it c;\myparas\myparas.doc

Insert the text chunks you want to use into that document.

Select each paragraph in turn and use Insert|Bookmark to bookmark each
paragraph with a different name - let's call them Para1,Para2,...,Para20. It
may or may not be useful to bookmark the text chunks without their final
paragraph marks (click the Show/Hide button in the standard toolbar to help
you do that).

Position the insertion point at the beginning of the document (so it's a
"point" selection) and insert a bookmark called Para0

In your mail merge main document, use

{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para1 \*Upper }"
= "Y" "Para1" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para2
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para2" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para3
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para3" "Para0" }
}

etc.

As before, all the {} need to be the field braces you can insert using
ctrl-F9.

You have to do the INCLUDETEXT and IFs this way around or you end up with
{ IF condition "{ INCLUDETEXT something }" "" } and the same problems as you
probably had before.

There are other ways to do this, but I think that's probably one of the
simpler methods.

Peter Jamieson

 

[sandralong2 via OfficeKB.com]

Hi Peter

Again, thank you so very much for the explanation and also for your quick
response (there is a deadline with this merge for Friday). Also, thank you
for telling me about the Google groups.

As mentioned, my knowledge with mail merges, fields, etc. is very, very basic
so here's hoping!

Regards
Sandra

 

[sandra via OfficeKB.com]

Hi Peter

I'm really sorry to keep coming back with this but I'm clearly doing
something wrong.

I've inserted all the paragraphs into a document, highlighted each paragraph
and bookmarked. I've highlighted the paragraph mark at the top of the
document and called it "Para0". I now have 9 bookmarks (just testing at the
moment). I've then created a folder named "myparas"on my "h" drive and named
the document "myparas".

I've then entered Para1, Para2 and Para 3 on the data source and put "Y"
underneath each of these headings.

In the middle of the main document (where I want the variable paragraphs to
be inserted), I've inserted

{ INCLUDETEXT "h:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para1 \*Upper }"
= "Y" "Para1" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "h:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para2
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para2" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "h:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para3
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para3" "Para0" }
}

I've then followed the steps to set up a mailmerge, ie: inserted name,
address, etc, It does insert the address details, etc, but does not appear
to link to the 'h' document. What step(s) am I missing?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Sandra

Hi Sandra,

I didn't provide the details because I hoped what you had would be enough.

NB - you can search by going to groups.google.com and entering a few useful
keywords - if you search for INCLUDETEXT or AUTOTEXT and the name of one of
the regular contributors here such as Meister Robbins Mayor or Jamieson you
will probably find rather a lot of articles on these subjects. You can use
the advanced search there to restrict the search to the more recent
articles, which is usually helpful.

This is what you do, at least for INCLUDETEXT

Create a separate document - let's call it c;\myparas\myparas.doc

Insert the text chunks you want to use into that document.

Select each paragraph in turn and use Insert|Bookmark to bookmark each
paragraph with a different name - let's call them Para1,Para2,...,Para20. It
may or may not be useful to bookmark the text chunks without their final
paragraph marks (click the Show/Hide button in the standard toolbar to help
you do that).

Position the insertion point at the beginning of the document (so it's a
"point" selection) and insert a bookmark called Para0

In your mail merge main document, use

{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para1 \*Upper }"
= "Y" "Para1" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para2
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para2" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para3
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para3" "Para0" }
}

etc.

As before, all the {} need to be the field braces you can insert using
ctrl-F9.

You have to do the INCLUDETEXT and IFs this way around or you end up with
{ IF condition "{ INCLUDETEXT something }" "" } and the same problems as you
probably had before.

There are other ways to do this, but I think that's probably one of the
simpler methods.

Peter Jamieson

I currently have a database holding details of 400+ members.

[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]

Regards
Sandra

 

[Peter Jamieson]

but I'm clearly doing

something wrong.

Not necessarily...

When you open your mail merge main document (and are connected to the data
source), do you see any of the paragraphs?

If you show the fields in preview mode (where you can see the results - use
Alt-F9 and Tools|Customize to enable the mailmerge toolbar and click the
<<>> button if necessary) do you see those paragraphs included? If not, if
you select the whole document using ctrl-A, then update all the fields using
F9, do you see them? If not, can you use Alt-F9 to expose the underlying
field codes, then select the first IF field, right-click and select Toggle
Field Codes to show the result of the IF field. What do you see? (You should
see Para1.) If you don't, temporarily replace the IF field with the text
Para1, try updating the INCLUDETEXT field again and show its result. If you
don't see the paragraph bookmarked Para1 included, then my guess is that
there is something wrong with the bookmarks.

Unfortunately, you may also have to follow this KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330554

Peter Jamieson

Hi Peter

I'm really sorry to keep coming back with this but I'm clearly doing
something wrong.

I've inserted all the paragraphs into a document, highlighted each
paragraph
and bookmarked. I've highlighted the paragraph mark at the top of the
document and called it "Para0". I now have 9 bookmarks (just testing at
the
moment). I've then created a folder named "myparas"on my "h" drive and
named
the document "myparas".

I've then entered Para1, Para2 and Para 3 on the data source and put "Y"
underneath each of these headings.

In the middle of the main document (where I want the variable paragraphs
to
be inserted), I've inserted

{ INCLUDETEXT "h:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para1
\*Upper }"
= "Y" "Para1" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "h:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para2
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para2" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "h:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para3
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para3" "Para0" }
}

I've then followed the steps to set up a mailmerge, ie: inserted name,
address, etc, It does insert the address details, etc, but does not
appear
to link to the 'h' document. What step(s) am I missing?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Sandra

Hi Sandra,

I didn't provide the details because I hoped what you had would be enough.

NB - you can search by going to groups.google.com and entering a few
useful
keywords - if you search for INCLUDETEXT or AUTOTEXT and the name of one
of
the regular contributors here such as Meister Robbins Mayor or Jamieson
you
will probably find rather a lot of articles on these subjects. You can use
the advanced search there to restrict the search to the more recent
articles, which is usually helpful.

This is what you do, at least for INCLUDETEXT

Create a separate document - let's call it c;\myparas\myparas.doc

Insert the text chunks you want to use into that document.

Select each paragraph in turn and use Insert|Bookmark to bookmark each
paragraph with a different name - let's call them Para1,Para2,...,Para20.
It
may or may not be useful to bookmark the text chunks without their final
paragraph marks (click the Show/Hide button in the standard toolbar to
help
you do that).

Position the insertion point at the beginning of the document (so it's a
"point" selection) and insert a bookmark called Para0

In your mail merge main document, use

{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para1
\*Upper }"
= "Y" "Para1" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para2
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para2" "Para0" }
}{ INCLUDETEXT "c:\\myparas\\myparas.doc" { IF "{ MERGEFIELD Para3
\*Upper }" = "Y" "Para3" "Para0" }
}

etc.

As before, all the {} need to be the field braces you can insert using
ctrl-F9.

You have to do the INCLUDETEXT and IFs this way around or you end up with
{ IF condition "{ INCLUDETEXT something }" "" } and the same problems as
you
probably had before.

There are other ways to do this, but I think that's probably one of the
simpler methods.

Peter Jamieson

I currently have a database holding details of 400+ members.

[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]

Regards
Sandra

 

[Sandra via OfficeKB.com]

Hi Peter

Yes, it worked. Fantastic. Thank you so much.

After hours and hours of trying I eventually deleted the field codes in the
main document, retyped them (identically!) pressed Alt and F9 and could
immediately see the paragraphs. Prior to retyping, when I pressed Alt and F9
nothing happened - the fields were as if they were ordinary text.

Again, thank you so much for your patience and for your detailed explanations.


Regards
Sandra

but I'm clearly doing
something wrong.

Not necessarily...

When you open your mail merge main document (and are connected to the data
source), do you see any of the paragraphs?

If you show the fields in preview mode (where you can see the results - use
Alt-F9 and Tools|Customize to enable the mailmerge toolbar and click the
<<>> button if necessary) do you see those paragraphs included? If not, if
you select the whole document using ctrl-A, then update all the fields using
F9, do you see them? If not, can you use Alt-F9 to expose the underlying
field codes, then select the first IF field, right-click and select Toggle
Field Codes to show the result of the IF field. What do you see? (You should
see Para1.) If you don't, temporarily replace the IF field with the text
Para1, try updating the INCLUDETEXT field again and show its result. If you
don't see the paragraph bookmarked Para1 included, then my guess is that
there is something wrong with the bookmarks.

Unfortunately, you may also have to follow this KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330554

Peter Jamieson

Hi Peter

[quoted text clipped - 98 lines]

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Glad it works now. I would generally assume that there was a tiny difference
in the way you did things but it ain't necessarily so!

Peter Jamieson

Hi Peter

Yes, it worked. Fantastic. Thank you so much.

After hours and hours of trying I eventually deleted the field codes in
the
main document, retyped them (identically!) pressed Alt and F9 and could
immediately see the paragraphs. Prior to retyping, when I pressed Alt and
F9
nothing happened - the fields were as if they were ordinary text.

Again, thank you so much for your patience and for your detailed
explanations.


Regards
Sandra

but I'm clearly doing
something wrong.

Not necessarily...

When you open your mail merge main document (and are connected to the data
source), do you see any of the paragraphs?

If you show the fields in preview mode (where you can see the results -
use
Alt-F9 and Tools|Customize to enable the mailmerge toolbar and click the
<<>> button if necessary) do you see those paragraphs included? If not, if
you select the whole document using ctrl-A, then update all the fields
using
F9, do you see them? If not, can you use Alt-F9 to expose the underlying
field codes, then select the first IF field, right-click and select Toggle
Field Codes to show the result of the IF field. What do you see? (You
should
see Para1.) If you don't, temporarily replace the IF field with the text
Para1, try updating the INCLUDETEXT field again and show its result. If
you
don't see the paragraph bookmarked Para1 included, then my guess is that
there is something wrong with the bookmarks.

Unfortunately, you may also have to follow this KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330554

Peter Jamieson

Hi Peter

[quoted text clipped - 98 lines]

Regards
Sandra