When I perform a Merge in Word using the Entourage Address Book as the
data source, I am automatically limited to the Entourage "categories"
for sorting and querying.
[...]
The best workaround is to make many, and useful categories in Entourage.
[snip lots of excellent info]
That gives complete versatility - you choose whoever you want in the
quickest way to get there.
Wow! Thank you for all of your help!
But Word still won't let me *sort* when I use the Entourage data base.
Assuming that Word will give me the records in whichever order they
currently are in Entourage, I'm guessing that I can sort in Entourage and
then head over to Word to do my stuff.
Except that Entourage won't let me sort by zip code, unless I create a zip
code category and re-type in every one of the zip codes in my membership
directory.
Or am I wrong?
There are two ways you can do this.
1) In Word
€ Assuming you want a "Catalog" merge for the moment, when you assemble the
fields in Data Merge Manager, don't drag "«Address»", instead do the fields
separately, and separate them by tabs. Type the tab key. Depending on
whether you want to sort by last name within the same zip code, also
separate first and last name by tabs. If you eventually want commas in the
address, include them too. like this:
«First Name» «Last Name» «Street» «City», «State» «Zip Code»
What that actually is is:
«First Name»<tab>«Last Name»<tab>«Street»<tab>«City, «State»»<tab>«Zip
Code»<return>
|
€ Then do the Merge after Query
€ Select all
€ Table/Convert--> Text to Table
In the window that comes up choose to make 5 columns, separated by Tabs
(not Paragraphs).
Press Options button and remove the checks for header and First column.
Click OK.
€ Now you've got a 5-column table. Still with all selected, choose
Table/Sort.
In the window that comes up choose to sort by Column 5, then Column 2
Click OK
€ Still all selected, choose Table/Convert-->Table to Text
In the window that comes up, choose to Separate Text with Tabs
Click OK
And there you are. But it has each record all on one line. You could
Separate by Paragraphs (it even puts an extra blank line between records -
nice) but you'll have First and Last Names on separate lines. (If you don't
need to sort secondarily by last name, don't put a <tab> between First Name
and Last Name to begin with - just a space, and they'll end up on the same
line.)
Now this won't really work for Labels, Envelopes, etc. Maybe you don't like
the layout even for Catalog. So don't forget:
2) Office is a Suite
€ In Entourage, go to File/Export/Contacts to a text file. Unfortunately you
have to export your whole address book this way, and the fields do not
include Categories. This may be OK for you - you can do your selecting in
the next step - or you might prefer to get my scripts Export-Import
Entourage X which will let you export by category (up to 4 categories) or by
selection.
€ In Excel, go to to Data/Get External Data/From a Text File. Confirm
Delimited/Tabs in the import wizard.
Now you have the whole thing in an Excel spreadsheet.
€ Delete rows (contacts) you don't want. (You could sort by Last Name - see
next step - to make that easier. If you exported the full address book, it
won't appear to be in any order.) Don't bother deleting columns, you don't
need to. There's all sorts of really sophisticated stuff you can do in Excel
if you want to and know how.
€ Data/Sort--> by Work Zip (or Home Zip) , then by Last Name.
Now you have it sorted as you want. (The difference here is that you get all
fields, not "Default" street address and zip, so you should have all
addresses in the same Work or Home fields in Entourage before you export.
You're going to have to choose either Work or Home, not default.)
€ Save the spreadsheet as an Excel Workbook (.xls file).
€ In Word, do any sort of Merge - Labels, Envelope, Form Letter, etc. Do NOT
choose Office Address Book as you Data Source, instead choose Open Data
Source... and navigate to the Workbook.xls file you made.
€ You get the usual choices of fields, and this time format it exactly as
you want it to appear :
«First_Name» «Last_Name»
«Work_Street_Address»
«Work_City», «Work_State» «Work_Zip»
This time you do have a header row.
€ Click OK. If you selected the rows you wanted in Excel, there's nothing to
Query, but you might find you can do your Query here instead. If you used my
script there will be a field for Categories which could help.
€ Merge.
So, using Entourage, Excel and Word you can do just about any sort of merge
you want.
--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP Entourage
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 Entourage you are using - **2004**, X
or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions otherwise.
