Using cells from an existing Word 2000 table as merge data - how to?

[Clint Johnson]

I've an existing Word table, containing 5 columns. The first two column
headers are "Last" and "First", for names.

I'm trying to use these first two columns as a data source for a
certificate, created as the Main Document, but I cannot get the certificate
doc to recognize the data source file, nor have I been able to find out how
to specify which columns in the data source table to use for the merge
fields.

I've checked Word help as well as the MS KB online, to no avail. Can anyone
help?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

In essence, for Word to recognise your Word document as a data source it
should contain nothing except a table. Other things (e.g. blank paragraphs
before the table) may be allowed, but e.g. additional text before the table
would prevent Word from recognising the table as a data source.

When a word table is the data source, you should always see all the column
names in the list of available merge fields. You can't say "only display
fields 1 and 2" (although of course you do not have to /use/ all the
fields). If some of the column names are blank, Word should invent
Automergefield names for those columns.

If your table is in a Word document with lots of other stuff in it, I think
you will either have to
a. copy/paste the coumns you want into a new document or
b. bookmark the columns you want, then create a new document, insert the
bookmarked columns from the first document as a linked document, then use
that as a data source. This approach can be made to work (at least in Word
2000) but may have unforessen consequences. If you insert the link using a
LINK field and specify (say) the \a switch for automatic updating and the \r
field for rtf format, at least the intermediate data source document should
accurately reflect the current contents of your table each time you re-open
the mail merge main document.

If that is not the problem, please let us know
a. which version of Word you are actually using (i.e. your data source may
be a WOrd 2000 doc, but maybe you are actually using Word 2002, in which
case it might be worth opening the data source and saving it in Word 2002
format)
b. what you actually see when you attempt to use the word doc as a data
source.

 

[Clint Johnson]

Thanks, Peter for the info.

I am using strictly Word 2000 for all aspects of this project.

My Word table lives in a document containing other non-table text and
formatting - it's a roster of class attendees. I wanted to merely use the
existing table contained in this doc as my data source, so I didn't have to
create another doc to merge with. Since I only had 22 names to merge, I just
entered them manually for now, so I could complete what I needed to do
yesterday.