Merging past the specified set values

[FNORD]

I keep posting this, and nobody seems to know what's wrong and nobody
replies. If you have an idea, let me know. I'll try ANYTHING. I really
need to get this solved though.

When I do a mail merge from our excel database (excel 2002 SP3) to Word..
(word 2002 SP3) to create labels, I have to specify which values I want to
use because I don't want to
use them all (ex: merge records 1000-2000) For some reason... it will merge
up to the last number I specify... but then it will go PAST that number just
enough to fill up the last page of labels.

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Have you tried specifying some filter criteria in the Mail merge Recipients
dialog box rather than specifying start and end record numbers? It may not
be possible if there are no fields you can use in selection criteria, and
even if it works, you may find that in this version of Word, Word loses your
data source when you save the mail merge main document.

Peter Jamieson

 

[FNORD]

Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately this is a huge database with over
1500 entries, therefore if I need to merge 1,000.... would I have to click
the individual boxes under the 'Edit Merge recipients' box?

It never used to do this before... but started doing it when we upgraded
from 2000 to XP.

If I start a brand new merge document in word and link it up with that
database, it has this problem.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

OK, I should be clear and say that I haven't researched this problem so
don't know if it is typical or something that is just happening in the case
you mention. Nor am I sure that my suggested solution will work in this
case.

would I have to click
the individual boxes under the 'Edit Merge recipients' box?

No, but I am assuming that there is something in your records that would
allow you to select one batch of records at a time. In the simplest possible
case would be that your data source had a column called "record number"
(say), and that the record number started at 1 and went up to 1500. In that
casse, you should be able to click on the header of the "record number"
column in the Edit Recipients dialog box, then click the Advanced... option
at the bottom of the drop-down list. You should then see a dialog box that
allows you to specify, e.g.

record number greater than or equal to 1
and
record number less than or equal to 1000

If you don't have such an obvious item, you might be able to filter using
some other criterion, but if you need to process a specific number of
records at a time, filtering using a record number is the only approach that
seems likely to work.

Peter Jamieson

 

[FNORD]

Thanks again. No such filtering option is available. It just seems odd that
the normal field of "merging records: 500-1500" doesn't work and it's weird
that I have to try to get around it because the function itself isn't working
properly. It always worked before, so I don't know if it's some sort of
setting I need to change since we've upgraded to XP or what.....

I mean... I can just delete the additional labels I don't want..... but I
want this database to be available for everyone, and when 40+ people get
their fingers in the pie, instructions don't always come across clear and it
comes back to myself.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

It just seems odd that

the normal field of "merging records: 500-1500" doesn't work

I agree. Unfortunately, I haven't beeen able to replicate the problem here
on XP/SP3 or any other version (I had to restore my XP/SP3 system which took
some time , hence the delayed response) so I am a bit short on ideas. The
only suggestions I can make at this point are:
a. it is worth trying to see whether this problem occurs with all
spreadsheets, or just this one. In this case it might be worth generating
test data sources by copying some of the data in your sheet and copying it
multiple times into a new workbook. An organised approach may reveal that a
particular row in your spreadsheet is causing problems, or there could be
some more general corruption. In my experience, one thing that is likely to
lead to problems is the presence of double-quote characters in the data.
b. try changing the connection method - check Word
Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversion at open", and go through the
connection process again. You should see an additional dialog box offering
various connection methods - typically OLEDB, ODBC, DDE, and Converter. The
default for Word 2000 was DDE. The default for Word XP is OLEDB, although
when you do not use this technique to specify a method Word XP may try
various methods if OLEDB does not work. Unfortunately, there are visible
differences between the methods - all the methods other than OLEDB are
likely to be slow, DDE requires Excel to be present, and you will probably
need to use formatting switches in Word fields for OLEDB and ODBC that
aren't needed for DDE.
c. (a last resort, really) if possible, add a record number column to your
sheet and follow the filtering approach

Peter Jamieson