Sorting a mail merge

[Al Jensen]

I have Word 2000. I can mail merge just fine with my
Access 2000 data query but I can't sort the mail merge.

I sort the query before I mail merge. Then I try to sort
through the "Query Options" in the "Merge the data with
the document" section of the "Mail Merge Helper" but
the "Sort Tab" is grayed out even if I enter a field into
the box.
Help.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Word should get the data in the sequence that the Query gets it in.

But the Query will re-execute each time you access it, and there is no
guarantee that it will return records in any particular sequence. So you
need to modify the query itself to have a sort sequence (in SQL terms, using
an ORDER BY clause, or hwever you do that in the Access visual query set-up
dialog).. Or add a query that references the first query and applies a sort
sequence, and use that as the data source.

the "Sort Tab" is grayed out even if I enter a field into
the box.

Can't remember why off the top of my head but it may be because Word already
knows you're dealing with a Query and cannot resequence the results coming
from the query.