where do i input new data, in mailmerge.

[officecomputerbrain]

I recently have moved and was given a newer computer. i dont remember the
version of the old microsoft word. but with this new version i cant input new
data. There is no data form like with the older version. I cant export it
since its a contract and i add new information. how would i edit the
mailmerge fields? is there a data form window or do i need to redo mailmerge?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

In most versions of Word, some types of data source can be edited in Word ,
and others can not. It also depends on how you connected to that data
source?

Which version of Word are you using now? (If you can see a menu called Help,
try Help->About. if you can't see a menu called Help and you can see a
"pizza button" in the top left hand corner of the Word Window, you are
probably using Word 2007).

if you are using Word 2002 (XP) or Word 2003, it may help to enable the
MailMerge Toolbar (e.g. using View Toolbars). Then click on the third icon
in that toolbar to "Edit Recipients". Is the Edit button greyed out? if not,
click it, and see what happens.

If you are using Word 2007, go to the Mailings Tab. Is "Edit Recipient List"
greyed out?
- if it is, you need to create a new data source, or connect to an existing
one, using Select Recipients.
- if it isn't, click Edit Recipient List. Then click the line in the box at
the bottom left titled "Data Source". If the Edit button becomes available,
click it, and see what happens (In Word 2007 the chances are that you will
see a tabular editor rather than the one you are used to).

Do you know what kind of data source you are using?

 

[officecomputerbrain]

i am using microsoft word 2003 sp2. I have no recipient list to edit. i add
and delete names all the time. i have certain fields that need to be added
and some that dont. i have a template already made. now i need to use the
fields that are there and have them put in with diffrent variables.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

You have to create a data source or Word mailmerge cannot work properly.
Don't be fooled by the term that Windows Word now uses for the records in a
data source - it calls them "Recipients" even when they do not contain data
which has anything to do with recpients.

How to set up your "Recipients" depends on what you want. By default, when
you did it in Word 2000 or earlier, Word created a Word document with one
table row or paragraph containing the field names and one row/paragraph for
each record. When you edited the data source via the Mail merge Helper, Word
displayed a form. If you clicked "View Source" Word opened the data source
as a Word document and you could edit it directly.

You can still work that way if you want. To do that, I would do it as
follows:
a. create a new Word document containing a table and nothing else.
b. put the names of the columns (fields) you need in the first row
c. create one mpty table row under that
d. save that document,e.g. in My Data Sources.
e. for each new data source that you need, make a copy of that document,
then in your mail merge main document, using the Mailmerge toolbar (as
mentioned earlier),
- click the second button and select your document as the data source
- click the third button (Edit recipients). You should see a single
blank record
- click the Edit button. You should be in a familiar dialog

If you need more than 63 fields (columns) you cannot use a Word table, but
you can use tab-delimited fields.

If you want to work the Word 2003 way, use the Mail Merge Wizard to "Create
a new list". Word saves it in a special type of Access .mdb file called an
Office Address List. When you have one of those and click Edit Recipients,
the Edit button should be enabled. if you click that, you see a form similar
to the old form, but with the option to delete or add columns. If you work
that way, /do not/ edit the data source directly using Access. You can't
have more than 255 columns in that case.

Personally, I would work the Word way if I only needed small data sources
that were easy to maintain, simply because you can always open them up
directly in Word and edit them there.