Same record repeats on mailing labels

[Paul P.]

I am using mailmerge to print out a few thousand records to Avery form 5388
(Index Cards). I have created a template with Field names in each area of the
form with the associated MergeField. I have copied the form (as nested table)
into the first record on the 5388 form and I have also tried copying the form
into each of the labels on the 5388 form. The result is the same. Each record
repeats on the page. This triples the desired output.
What I am trying to do is to print one record in each label. I have created
a rec_number field and used query options to filter. This outputs 3 labels
per page with incremental record numbers for each record. So the rec_number
field is working but I still cannot get 3 individual records per page.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

You need to have a { NEXT } field at the beginning of each copy of your form
/except the first/, to get Word to move to the next record.. You can use
Alt-F9 to show the "raw" field codes, then use ctrl-F9 to insert the special
field code braces, then type NEXT between them.

e.g. if you have 3 copies of the form in your mail merge main document

form-A
form-B
form-C

then you need { NEXT } fields as follows:

form-A
{ NEXT }
form-B
{ NEXT }
form-C

(I'm not sure that will actually work with nested tables, but if you have
problems at first, try to put the { NEXT } fields in the outer-level table).

Peter Jamieson

 

[Paul P.]

Thank you very much for the help.

Here is what I ended up doing.
1. I created a new document with a table the full size of the page. I split
it horizontally and vertically into 4 cells. I pasted my original template as
a nested table into each cell. I added a {Next} field into each nested table.
2. I inserted a column in the data source spreadsheet named Rec_Number and
created a sequential number for each record.
3. When I started the merge I set the query options to: Field=Rec_Num;
Comparison=Less than or equal to;Compare to=2271(the number of records).
4. I set the merge to create new document because I am printing to 110 lb
card stock and I want to be able to restart the print job at my direction in
case I encounter a paper jam.

What helped the most in your reply was:

You need to have a { NEXT } field at the beginning of each copy of your form
/except the first/, to get Word to move to the next record.. You can use
Alt-F9 to show the "raw" field codes, then use ctrl-F9 to insert the special
field code braces, then type NEXT between them

Thanks again.

Paul Pacelli
--
Paul P.
IHS
Neah Bay, WA

You need to have a { NEXT } field at the beginning of each copy of your form
/except the first/, to get Word to move to the next record.. You can use
Alt-F9 to show the "raw" field codes, then use ctrl-F9 to insert the special
field code braces, then type NEXT between them.

e.g. if you have 3 copies of the form in your mail merge main document

form-A
form-B
form-C

then you need { NEXT } fields as follows:

form-A
{ NEXT }
form-B
{ NEXT }
form-C

(I'm not sure that will actually work with nested tables, but if you have
problems at first, try to put the { NEXT } fields in the outer-level table).

Peter Jamieson