Mail Merge with two records on front and back with different field

[mc123]

Hi,

I am attempting to mail merge a document that has two records on the front
and the same records on the back, but the fields from those records are
different.
So on the front top half of the page, will for example hold fields 1-5 from
record one, and the bottom half of the front page hold fields 1-5 of record
two. Then on the top half of the back page, fields 6-9 will be from record
one and fields 4-9 of record two on the bottom half, again on the back page.

I am not able to find an easy method of doing this? Any assistance would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

1. Your best bet is probably to save copies of your data in "bookmarks"
for re-use later.

e.g.

Use Alt-9 to show the field codes in your mail merge main document.
chances are you have something like

{ MERGEFIELD myfield1 }
{ MERGEFIELD myfield2 }
etc.
{ NEXT }
{ MERGEFIELD myfield1 }
{ MERGEFIELD myfield2 }

If so, replace those fields with some fields like this, where each pair
of the special field code braces can be inserted using ctrl-F9:

{ SET myfield1A "{ MERGEFIELD myfield1 }"
}{ SET myfield2A "{ MERGEFIELD myfield2 }"
}{ REF myfield1A }
{ REF myfield2A }
etc.
{ NEXT }{ SET myfield1B "{ MERGEFIELD myfield1 }"
}{ SET myfield2B "{ MERGEFIELD myfield2 }"
}{ REF myfield1B }
{ REF myfield2B }

then on the next page in the top half, use

{ REF myfield1A }
{ REF myfield2A }

and in the bottom half, use

{ REF myfield1B }
{ REF myfield2B }


2. Another possibility is to change your data source. e.g. if you have

Record 1
Record 2
Record 3
Record 4

etc.

then you probably need

Record 1
Record 2
Record 1
Record 2
Record 3
Record 4
Record 3
Record 4

etc.

If you can do that in your data source, you've probably solved the
problem. IMO most types of data source do not make that kind of thing easy.

3. a similar approach where you combine two records into one so you have

Record 12
Record 34

might be straightforward if for example your data source is Excel and
you know Excel VBA or the Excel function language well.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

See the article “Duplex Merge Data for Postcards†on fellow MVP Graham Mayor’s
website at:

http://www.gmayor.com/duplex_merge_data.htm

If that information is of use to you, please do consider contributing to the
maintenance of that website to ensure its continued availability.


--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com