Multiple versions of a catalog in Word

[Mike F]

Hi Team,
I hope you can help me. My boss has asked me to create a flexible catalog of
our products to be distributed in a couple of different regions. We would
like the ability to easily make changes across the entire catalog to reflect
changes specific to a particular region. For example, he would like to make a
U.S. catalog and a Canadian version, and with as few clicks as possible, make
the prices in the Canadian catalog reflect an adjustment because of currency.
Is there an easy way to do this? I am reserved to the fact that I will
probably have to have an external document (such as Excel) that would feed
into the Word file. I am just not sure as to how I would make this work.

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Mike F

 

[macropod]

Hi Mike,

If the only difference is the prices, it's potentially quite simple. If you create a Custom Document Property named 'Country' with a
default value of, say 'USA', you could use an IF field for each price, coded along the lines of:
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "USA" "USD21.00" "CAD$21.50"}
or, if your prices are based on USD*Exchange Rate and you a another Custom Document Property named 'ExchRate' with a default value
of 1, which you change according to the relevant country's current exchange rate with the USD (eg CAN = 1.024), you could use an IF
field for each price, coded along the lines of:
{=ROUND({DOCPROPERTY ExchRate}*21.00,1) \# "$,0.00"}

In either case, to edit the field code values in the body of the document, you'd need to press Alt-F9 to toggle the field code
display.

If the differences include some catalog items, you could extend the principles of the field coding for the first example to
encompass whole items. For example:
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "USA" "Widget item entry, for which the price is USD21.00"}
or
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}<> "USA" "Widget item entry, for which the price is {IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "CAN" "CAD$21.50" "MXN$264}"}

Note: The field brace pairs (ie '{ }') for the above examples are all created via Ctrl-F9 - you can't simply type them or copy &
paste them from this message.

 

[Mike F]

WOW, you just talked about 4 levels above my pay grade. But, you solution
seems like it might be one way to skin the cat. How do I create the "Custom
Document Properties"? I tried searching the Office Help file, but with no
success.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Mike

Hi Mike,

If the only difference is the prices, it's potentially quite simple. If you create a Custom Document Property named 'Country' with a
default value of, say 'USA', you could use an IF field for each price, coded along the lines of:
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "USA" "USD21.00" "CAD$21.50"}
or, if your prices are based on USD*Exchange Rate and you a another Custom Document Property named 'ExchRate' with a default value
of 1, which you change according to the relevant country's current exchange rate with the USD (eg CAN = 1.024), you could use an IF
field for each price, coded along the lines of:
{=ROUND({DOCPROPERTY ExchRate}*21.00,1) \# "$,0.00"}

In either case, to edit the field code values in the body of the document, you'd need to press Alt-F9 to toggle the field code
display.

If the differences include some catalog items, you could extend the principles of the field coding for the first example to
encompass whole items. For example:
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "USA" "Widget item entry, for which the price is USD21.00"}
or
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}<> "USA" "Widget item entry, for which the price is {IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "CAN" "CAD$21.50" "MXN$264}"}

Note: The field brace pairs (ie '{ }') for the above examples are all created via Ctrl-F9 - you can't simply type them or copy &
paste them from this message.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]

Hi Team,
I hope you can help me. My boss has asked me to create a flexible catalog of
our products to be distributed in a couple of different regions. We would
like the ability to easily make changes across the entire catalog to reflect
changes specific to a particular region. For example, he would like to make a
U.S. catalog and a Canadian version, and with as few clicks as possible, make
the prices in the Canadian catalog reflect an adjustment because of currency.
Is there an easy way to do this? I am reserved to the fact that I will
probably have to have an external document (such as Excel) that would feed
into the Word file. I am just not sure as to how I would make this work.

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Mike F

.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If this is Word 2003 or earlier, File | Properties | Custom. When you define
a property, you have to assign a value before it will "take."

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

WOW, you just talked about 4 levels above my pay grade. But, you solution
seems like it might be one way to skin the cat. How do I create the
"Custom
Document Properties"? I tried searching the Office Help file, but with no
success.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Mike

Hi Mike,

If the only difference is the prices, it's potentially quite simple. If
you create a Custom Document Property named 'Country' with a
default value of, say 'USA', you could use an IF field for each price,
coded along the lines of:
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "USA" "USD21.00" "CAD$21.50"}
or, if your prices are based on USD*Exchange Rate and you a another
Custom Document Property named 'ExchRate' with a default value
of 1, which you change according to the relevant country's current
exchange rate with the USD (eg CAN = 1.024), you could use an IF
field for each price, coded along the lines of:
{=ROUND({DOCPROPERTY ExchRate}*21.00,1) \# "$,0.00"}

In either case, to edit the field code values in the body of the
document, you'd need to press Alt-F9 to toggle the field code
display.

If the differences include some catalog items, you could extend the
principles of the field coding for the first example to
encompass whole items. For example:
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "USA" "Widget item entry, for which the price
is USD21.00"}
or
{IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}<> "USA" "Widget item entry, for which the price
is {IF{DOCPROPERTY Country}= "CAN" "CAD$21.50" "MXN$264}"}

Note: The field brace pairs (ie '{ }') for the above examples are all
created via Ctrl-F9 - you can't simply type them or copy &
paste them from this message.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]

Hi Team,
I hope you can help me. My boss has asked me to create a flexible
catalog of
our products to be distributed in a couple of different regions. We
would
like the ability to easily make changes across the entire catalog to
reflect
changes specific to a particular region. For example, he would like to
make a
U.S. catalog and a Canadian version, and with as few clicks as
possible, make
the prices in the Canadian catalog reflect an adjustment because of
currency.
Is there an easy way to do this? I am reserved to the fact that I will
probably have to have an external document (such as Excel) that would
feed
into the Word file. I am just not sure as to how I would make this
work.

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Mike F

.

 

[Mike F]

I am using Word 2007 and I found the Document Properties through the Office
Button, however, there is no ability to create a Custom field (as far as I
can tell).

I typed out one of the examples above. Everything is exactly as written, but
when I hit Alt-F9, I just get a blank. Any ideas?

Mike

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can still create custom properties, but you have to get to the
"Advanced" Properties dialog that shows the Custom tab. On that tab, type a
name and value for the property, then click Add.

To get to the Advanced Properties dialog, use Office Button | Prepare |
Properties. This opens what I think they call the "document pane." At the
top left, click Document Properties and choose Advanced Properties. Needless
to say, this is quite cumbersome, so you may want to add Advanced Document
Properties to the QAT. Find it under Commands Not in the Ribbon.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[macropod]

Hi Mike,

Without the custom document property, the field won't work. To get to where you can add it, click Office Button|Prepare|Properties >
Document Properties > Advanced Properties > Custom.