using merge "ask" field

[John Kays]

I have several form letters set up addressed to Title (Mr. or Ms.
etc.) and the last name. However with some of these clients I want to
address them by their first name as they would feel somewhat turned
off by such a formal address in the context of our relationship. I
cannot figure out to set this option using "ask" field. Some help here
would certainly be appreciated. Thanks, John

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

I have several form letters set up addressed to Title (Mr. or Ms.
etc.) and the last name. However with some of these clients I want to
address them by their first name as they would feel somewhat turned
off by such a formal address in the context of our relationship. I
cannot figure out to set this option using "ask" field. Some help here
would certainly be appreciated. Thanks, John

I don't see any way to do it. You'd have to script a data merge via VBA
macro or AppleScript. Even then, I think you'd need to "leave a clue" in the
Address Book for automated execution rather than "ask": e.g. leave the Title
field empty to indicate use First Name, or perhaps another use field such as
Nickname (i.e. if Nickname is not empty use Nickname - same as First Name -
instead of Title & Last Name). Doing a Mail Merge by VBA or AppleScript
would not be simple, however.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

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PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[John Kays]

Paul, Thanks for the quick follow-up. I will immediately cease any
efforts to accomplish this task in the manner first presented and move
on to another solution. Thank you for your advice. John

 

[Matt Centurión [MSFT]]

I have several form letters set up addressed to Title (Mr. or Ms.
etc.) and the last name. However with some of these clients I want to
address them by their first name as they would feel somewhat turned
off by such a formal address in the context of our relationship. I
cannot figure out to set this option using "ask" field. Some help here
would certainly be appreciated. Thanks, John

Using an "Ask" field means that for every person you merge, you will be
"asked" to fill in some information. Ask fields also setup bookmarks.
Instead you might want to use "FillIn" fields.

If that's ok you can try the following fields:

{ FILLIN "Address client as:" \d "{ MERGEFIELD Title } { MERGEFIELD
Last_Name }" }

(all on one line). What this will do is for every merge record it will ask
you if the current Title+LastName combination is what you want, and allow
you to edit it to your heart's content and then place whatever you type as
the result of the field. For the most part, you should just be clicking "Ok"
if the current Title+LastName is ok.

However this means you will be doing a lot of clicking if you have many
clients. Paul's suggestion of some sort of automation is also possible via {
IF } fields.. So no VBA needed, but still some work.

Matt
MacWord Testing
Macintosh Business Unit

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