Weird watermark behavior in mail merge :-(

[Julia]

I need to generate a letter that contains a first page in portrait mode,
second page landscape; plus a watermark that does not print on the first page
but prints on subsequent pages, and use this to mail merge letters. I have
created a letter template with these features. When I run the mail merge, the
first page looks great (portrait, no WM), 2nd page looks good (landscape,
WM), but then every subsequent page has a WM (meaning the first page for the
next record). I tried putting a continuous section break at the beginning and
end of the document, to no avail. How do I turn off the watermark in the
merge?

Really scratching my head over this one....

Thanks in advance-
Julia

 

[Julia]

Forgot to add I have the "different first page" set in page layout...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The issue here is the landscape page. Ordinarily, using "Different first
page" and anchoring a watermark to the Header but not the First Page Header
would do the trick, but in this case, since you have two sections (one
portrait and one landscape), you have two "first pages." In order to insert
the watermark on the landscape page (Section 2), you presumably had to
unlink the header from the header in Section 1, but that doesn't guarantee
that a subsequent section will be unlinked. When you create a letter-type
merge, each letter is a new section (in this case, it's TWO new sections),
and presumably all the remaining sections are linked.

Here is what I would try (if you haven't already). Enable "Different first
page" in Section 1 and create your First Page Header (without watermark).
There won't be any actual Header in that section because the second page is
Section 2. Disable "Different first page" in that section and create your
Header (with watermark). Each subsequent letter should get a new portrait
section with a First Page Header (no watermark) and a landscape section with
a Header (watermark). Does this work?

If not, you might try a different end run: enable "Different odd and even,"
which will have to be for the entire document (it's all or nothing, not a
section setting like "Different first page"). Your first page will have the
Odd Page Header (portrait, no watermark), and the second page will have the
Even Page header (landscape, with watermark). Provided each letter is
exactly two pages long, this alternation should continue throughout the
merge.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Julia]

Hi Suzanne-

WM still carries through to next letter even when Section 2 has "different
first page" enabled.

I have been able to work around this by creating the "watermark" as a
graphic behind the text linked to the page, instead of a real watermark
embedded in the header.

Still can't figure out why it doesn't work as it's supposed to, though....
:-(

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

My suggestion was to DISable "Different first page" in Section 2 and anchor
the watermark to the Header rather than the First Page Header. Your solution
obviously will work, but I suspect mine would as well.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Julia]

My apologies- I obviously wasn't reading carefully enough. I will give this a
try. If it works, it is preferable to having my customer having to manually
place a graphic on each page of a multi-page document.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If the watermark is anchored to text on the second page of the mail merge
main document, it should be anchored to that same text in every letter in
the merged document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org