Merging Labels

[BigMac]

I have tried and tried, bur for some reason when I merge my data base with
labels I want to print, ONLY the first page of labels print. I can review
the other labels, BUT they will not print. Can someone help?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You have not actually executed the merge. All you are doing is previewing
and printing a preview of the results.

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

 

[Graham Mayor]

You have not completed the merge! You are printing the merge source
document - see http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[BigMac]

Thank you so much for the help. I followed your directions and had not
problem. Thanks again.

 

[GMcKenna]

I have somewhat the same problem; however I completed the merge and printed
out all 11 pages of 64 labels which came from a query in Access. I then save
the word doc and when I reopen it I get
Opening this document will run the following SQL command:
SELECT*FROM `NATPRODQuery`\
Data will be placed in the document. Do you want to continue
I continue and the Doc opens on the toolbar I can scroll through all 64
addresses but I can only print one page at a time. In other words I can print
Page 1 addresses 1-6 then scroll to address 7 and print addresses 7-12. I
make ongoing changes to the access data and the changes appear in the saved
word doc every time I reopen it. However a second party who has no access
experience needs to print out these addresses weekly is their some way to go
into the Word Doc and print all 64 addresses (11pages) at once?
GMcKenna

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Did you follow Graham Mayor's link when he said

?

Using the normal Word File|Print facility to /print/ a mailmerged main
document does not work. You either have to /merge/ to the printer, or
/merge/ to a new document, then print that.

One problem is that the wording of the Mail Merge Wizard is a bit ambiguous.
Just make sure that in Step 6 of the Wizard you choose either "Print..." or
"Edit individual labels...", then print.

Peter Jamieson

 

[GMcKenna]

Yes I did follow the link to "Mail merge labels with Office XP & 2003" and
read through it as thoroughly as possible but was unable to see an answer
that was directly related to my question. I had and did complete the merge
"just make sure that in Step 6 of the Wizard you choose either "Print..." or

"Edit individual labels...", then print." I've done it both ways and

printed all my labels at once no problem. After that you have the option to
save the document which I did. Now upon reopening the word doc (created after
completing the mail merge) I see an updated version of my addresses but
cannot print all of them at once. Perhaps it can't be done with out going
back into the original access file/ query and going through the mail merge
process again. Clearly the Word Doc is now connected to my access query as
any changes made in access to the addresses will now appear in the word doc
whenever I reopen it. I had hoped that one could then simply print all the
labels at once from that word document over and over. Is this simply not
possible? Is the word Doc (even though it was saved after the merge and
printing) a permanent “merge layout document†able to view all the data from
the query but never able to print more than one page at a time? Or is their a
way from within the word doc get it to print all the data?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I've done it both ways and

printed all my labels at once no problem.

OK, that's a good start, as it suggests that you managed to print what you
expected...

After that you have the option to
save the document which I did.

....but I wonder if you saved he thing you really needed to save at this
point.

Apologies in advance if all this is familiar to you...

When you merge, you start with a "Mail Merge Main Document" that contains a
number of merge fields.

You connect to your "Mail Merge Data Source", and perform the merge,

If you merge to a new document, the new document should contain all the
merged data as at the time you did
the merge. That document is no longer connected to tyour "Mail Merge Data
Source", and if you save it, re-open it and reprint it, it should be
unchanged.

Suppose you save your "Mail Merge Main Document"

Then you change your data source.

Then you reopen your "Mail Merge Main Document". What you see when you
preview or merge should reflect the current content of your mail merge data
source.

I lost track after that, which may suggest that we could be seeing things
from completely different perspectives - if so, have a look through what I
said and see if you can see where my understanding diverges from yours.

Peter Jamieson

 

[GMcKenna]

Peter:
Thanks for going through this with me. I"m not entirely clear about what is
unclear for you so here is my best response

“....but I wonder if you saved the thing you really needed to save at this
point.â€

.....I don’t know I have gone back and performed the merge several times
checking the steps and their seems to be no additional options that would
change the out come. I checked the “Save As†option from the file menu and
their doesn’t appear to be any special options beyond renaming the file and
the save location.

We seem to be on the same page up to here...

“If you merge to a new document, the new document should contain all the
merged data as at the time you did the merge.â€

…it does and if I print at this point (before I save it) I get the entire
list of addresses I merged from my data source (64 addresses on 11 pages)


“That document is no longer connected to your "Mail Merge Data
Source", and if you save it, re-open it and reprint it, it should be
unchanged.â€

… when I save it, and reopen it the message “Opening this document will run
the following SQL command: SELECT*FROM `NATPRODQuery`\†appears. I answer yes
and the saved document opens. Two things have happened 1) I can only print
the one page as it appears in the window but I can scroll through all 64
addresses and print them one page at a time. 2) Any changes I may have made
in the data source file (the main access database from which the addresses
are taken) are also changed in the saved document.


â€Suppose you save your "Mail Merge Main Document"

Then you change your data source.

Then you reopen your "Mail Merge Main Document". What you see when you
preview or merge should reflect the current content of your mail merge data
source.â€

….as I said the data does reflect the current content from the data source
with any changes I may have made. The content is their as I can scroll
through all 64 addresses, I simply cannot print all 11 pages of labels from
this document.

Does this make more sense now?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Is your Mail Merge Main document attached to a template (.dot file)? If so,
is the template attached to the merge data source? if so, then the merged
document will be based on the template and when you re-open it, you will see
the connection message. I don't think that is what is happeneing here, but
it could be useful to rule it out.

Peter Jamieson

 

[GMcKenna]

Peter:
The document which I am reopening is a .doc file and based on the connect
message I would assume it is attached to my main data source. I am unsure
now what my Main Document refers too? I began a query in access to obtain a
number of mail addresses. From the query I opened "Tools/Office Links/Merge
it with Microsoft Word" this opened the mail merge wizard and I chose "Create
a new document" this is the document that I believed we were referring to as
the "Main Document" which I then "Save As" a .doc file.
GMcKenna

 

[Peter Jamieson]

OK, the .dot thing is irrelevant.

Let's run through it again.

From Access, you create a document. This is indeed the Mail merge Main
Document, and is connected to the data source.

But when you perform the merge to a new document, you end up with a /second/
docment. Let's call it the Results document. The Results document should not
be connected to the data source.

If you save the Mail merge Main Document, then re-open it, it will try to
connect to the data source. That's why you see the message about SELECT*FROM
`NATPRODQuery. You should then be able to re-run the merge, but the merge
will use the current data.

If you save the Results document, and re-open it, you should not see any
message about SELECT*FROM `NATPRODQuery. The Results document should just
contain the results.

So if you save the Mail Merge Main Document and send it to someone else who
does not have the same database, they will not be able to recreate the
Results document - they'll only see the Mail Merge Main Document, perhaps
with some preview data.

If you send the Results document to someone else, they would typically be
able to print the results document without having the data source.

I just have a feeling that you are expecting Mail Merge to work in a
different way from how it actually works, and may be misinterpreting what
you are seeing.

Peter Jamieson

 

[GMcKenna]

Peter:
I have added my thoughts ...as you go through your last reply

OK, the .dot thing is irrelevant.

Let's run through it again.

From Access, you create a document. This is indeed the Mail merge Main
Document, and is connected to the data source.

...Ok good so far

But when you perform the merge to a new document, you end up with a /second/
document. Let's call it the Results document. The Results document should not
be connected to the data source.

....this makes sense

If you save the Mail merge Main Document, then re-open it, it will try to
connect to the data source. That's why you see the message about SELECT*FROM
`NATPRODQuery. You should then be able to re-run the merge, but the merge
will use the current data.

.... this is what i must have done saved the "Main Document", I get the query
when I open it and it has the updated/current data from my database.

If you save the Results document, and re-open it, you should not see any
message about SELECT*FROM `NATPRODQuery. The Results document should just
contain the results.

...I am presuming I have not saved the "Results Document"

So if you save the Mail Merge Main Document and send it to someone else who
does not have the same database, they will not be able to recreate the
Results document - they'll only see the Mail Merge Main Document, perhaps
with some preview data.

.....The saved "Main Document" and the database are on a multi access drive
so I am not sending the saved "Main Document" anywhere it remains on the
drive it was saved to and that also has the main database file

If you send the Results document to someone else, they would typically be
able to print the results document without having the data source.

....see above

I just have a feeling that you are expecting Mail Merge to work in a
different way from how it actually works, and may be misinterpreting what
you are seeing.

....This could very well be. So is the final answer that after printing
successfully (64 addresses on 11 pages) from the "Main Document" saving the
"Main Document" then reopening the "Main Document" all with out moving or
sending it anywhere that though I can see/scroll/preview all the data the
"Main Document" will not then print out all that information at one time ie
all 64 addresses on 11 pages.

Graeme

 

[Peter Jamieson]

...This could very well be. So is the final answer that after printing

successfully (64 addresses on 11 pages) from the "Main Document" saving
the
"Main Document" then reopening the "Main Document" all with out moving or
sending it anywhere that though I can see/scroll/preview all the data the
"Main Document" will not then print out all that information at one time
ie
all 64 addresses on 11 pages.

That's correct. This is where we started...

<<
However a second party who has no access
experience needs to print out these addresses weekly is their some way to go
into the Word Doc and print all 64 addresses (11pages) at once?
....but I have made some invalid assumptions.

What /they/ need to do is
a. open the mail merge main document
b. get through the question about SQL
c. perform the merge (either printing the results or merging to a new
document and printing that)

They shouldn't need to know anything about Access to do that, only Word.
However, if you want to make it easier for them, you would also have to
a. train them to reply "Yes" to this stupid question (because of course
there is no reason why they would have any notion as to whether or not it
was "safe" to reply either Yes or No), or they can probably be spared this
particular question if their machine's Windows registry has been patched as
per

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=825765

b. provide a macro that did the merge when they opened the document.

Peter Jamieson