Re-create the catalog merge by removing all breaks Help

[Jeanne Moos]

I'm trying to re-create the catalog merge by removing all the section breaks
from within the form letter merge by using a macro but it doesn't seem it
work.
I have the following fields surrounded by a table.

«rownum» «DOCUMENTTITLE» «CTRY» «CLAIMS»


FYI: I cannot use the catalog merge because it's not available through the
database we use. The SQL database is linked to word. So when the user selects
the form. The form displays and prints. We only have access to the simple
form letter merges. Basically I'm trying to change the behavior of the form
letter.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

You don't say what the exact problem is but my guess is that Word simply
does not remove any section breaks (except possibly the last) if you replace
"^b" by nothing. Unfortunately, that's because there's a weird "feature" in
Word where it won't replace stuff between table rows if it would lead to the
rows being joined together again.

I think you will need a macro such as the following:

Sub RemoveSectionBreaks()

With ActiveDocument.Content
.Find.ClearFormatting
Do While .Find.Execute(FindText:="^b", Forward:=True, _
Format:=False) = True
.Delete Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1
Loop
End With
End Sub

If you aren't familiar with how to use macros, see

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/CreateAMacro.htm

However, from what you say about not being able to choose catalog/directory
merges, it may be that you are also not allowed to create/use macros. If so,
you may be able to work around this if you are allowed to change your mail
merge main document, as long as none of the merge fields contain multiline
data. To try that, instead of putting the merge fields in a table, just
separate them using tabs. Then, after the merge, you should be able to
replace ^b by nothing (or ^p^b or ^b^p by nothing if there are blank
paragraphs to remove as well). Then select all the data and use the
Table|"Convert text to table" option to create the table you want (I think!)

Peter Jamieson

 

[Jeanne Moos]

Thank you. The section break vbscript works! Your second alternative won't
work because I have a multiline data.

I have related question:
My word document is a template (.dot) file.
The script only work if I go into the Macro area and select run. Is there
any the script can be changed so that when the file opens it performs the
section break removal.

Thanks

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Taking your description at face value, what you can do is make a copy of the
macro in your template in a Module (i.e. don't put it under ThisDocument:
- use Insert Module to create a new module
- (for this kind of macro I usually rename the module to "AutoMacros" but
it isn't essential)
- copy/paste the code of the Sub into the new module
- change the name of the Sub to AutoOpen, so you have

Sub AutoOpen()

at the top.

Then save the template.

What that should do is make any document based on that template exxeute the
code when the document opens. However,
a. you need to be sure that it is always OK to perform this action for any
document attached to this template
b. you should test the macro to ensure that it works (preferably not
popping up any dialog boxes) when there is nothing to replace
c. you need to be sure that the document resulting from your merge is
attached to the template you think it's attached to

If that is all OK, fine. Otherwise, let us know what goes wrong...

Peter Jamieson

 

[Jeanne Moos]

I took your advice and place the following code as a module in my Word
template called RemoveBreaks.dot.

Sub AutoOpen()

With ActiveDocument.Content
.Find.ClearFormatting
Do While .Find.Execute(FindText:="^b", Forward:=True, _
Format:=False) = True
.Delete Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1
Loop
End With
End Sub

When I open the document the script doesn't work. It doesn't remove the
section breaks.

When I open the template .dot it turns into a doc. file. When I go to the
macro section of the doc file the macro isn't there. I guess it still resides
in the .dot file.

Any suggestions?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

When you are working with .dot files everything works a bit differently. How
it was supposed to work is that you use File|New, then pick the template,
and as you say a new .doc is created based on the template. Some of the
material in the template (e.g. page layout and any text etc. in it) is
copied to the new .doc, but some other things (macros and autotexts) remain
in the template. However, as long as the document remains "attached" to the
template, the macro should run when you open the document. You can see which
template the document is attached to by looking at Tools|Templates and
Addins.

The reason why I suggested an autoopen is that as far as I could tell, I
thought you would be re-opening an existing document that was based on your
template. If you are creating a new document
a. change the name of the macro to AutoNew()
b. I'm not sure it makes sense because when you create your document it
will have nothing in it to remove. If you can describe exactly how you want
the process to work, it may be that neither an AutoOpen nor an AutoNew will
work.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Jeanne Moos]

Neither of your automated suggestions work with the database/word merge. The
only time the "remove the section breaks" script works is if I create a new
macro for the form letter that opens. I thought maybe now that the user will
have to run the script themselves. Is there any way a user form can be used
to prompt the user to the run the script?

 

[Jeanne Moos]

I just want to thank Peter Jamieson for his help. The code was perfect. The
reason it didn't work was because I need an additional statement to allow the
database to talk to my macro.