printing separate sections in/from mail merge

[waldorfedu]

I am setting up a very small business for my daughter. This includes posting
to schools and I have a database and have just learned how to import data
from Excel into Word so that I can print sheets of labels (Avery 5160)
through mail merge. So far so good except the file in Word indicates only one
page with 326 sections. I only want to print one section of labels at a time
but I cannot find how to print each section separately - advice and help
please - thanks.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

It sounds as if you have
a. a data source with 326 records
b. you want to be able to select one record and print a page of labels for
that one record (an address, maybe).

To do that, I suggest that you enable the Mail Merge toolbar
(Tools|Customize) then
c. open the Mail merge Recipients dialog box,
d. deselect all the records
e. scroll down the list to the record you want and select it
f. do the merge

There are other ways to do this, e.g. if you have your 326 section output
you can print section 123 by going to File|Print, selecting the Page
Range|Pages radio button, then entering s123. Or, when you merge, specify a
range of records 123 to 123

If (a) isn't what you're trying to do, let us know.

Peter Jamieson

 

[waldorfedu]

Thanks for the prompt response. I don't think I have been clear enough. There
are 326 sections (pages) of labels apparently all on page 1 with 30 labels
per page making a total of over 9,760 address labels in total (set up to
print Avery 5160 labels). I have opened Mail Merge toolbar (thanks) but after
the first two icons (the third is "Mail merge Recipients dialog box") all the
rest including that are grayed out so I cannot action as you recommended -
advice please - thanks.

 

[Graham Mayor]

You have apparently already merged to a new document. As Peter has indicated
(and you yourself have noted) each 'page' of the merge is a section of 1
page. You can print individual pages of labels by addressing the section
number in the print pages box of the file > print dialog eg for the last
page you would put s326 in the box to print the first three you would put
s1-s3 etc.

If you only want to print *part* of a page then you are going to have to
selectively re-merge the required records.

If you no longer have the data source then you can recreate it from your
label document http://www.gmayor.com/convert_labels_into_mail_merge.htm

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Peter Jamieson]

OK, to print just one section of your 326-section document, use the approach
I suggested before - go to File|Print and enter s123 (or whatever) in the
pages to print box.

When you mail merge, there are potentially two documents:
a. the mail merge main document, which contains layout info. and has the
connection to your data source
b. the output document, which you produce from the mail merge main document
by performing the merge

It's (a) that needs to be open to use all the facilities of the mailmerge
toobar.

Peter Jamieson

 

[waldorfedu]

gentlemen, problem solved - thanks so much for your help. Take care David