MailMerge to CheckBoxes?

[Roger Marrs]

I am working on a document that contains a number of checkboxes and
bookmarks, the value/contents of which are dependent upon the value of
numerous fields in multipe records in a database. Basically, I want to
perform a MailMerge operation, but I need to translate most of the
information in the data source file into CheckBox values, rather than text.

Since the situation I'm dealing with is so similar to a MailMerge, my first
thought was to set up my data source file as a comma-delimited .rtf file.
However, since the ultimate output I'm seeking is mostly CheckBox values
being displayed with the correct value, instead of text from the data
source, I'm thinking that using tables might be better. I can create a
single column, mulitple row table for each record, so I would end up with an
..rtf file that would contain a single colum table for each record, with the
rows in each table consisting of the data from the fields in each record.

Or, I suppose I could perform a straight MailMerge using the comma-delimited
file and then reference the MailMerge fieldnames in the merged file to get
the information needed for CheckBox values in the final document that I
actually need to create.

(I realize I could potentially query the database directly, but for various
reasons I would like to avoid doing so.)

I've searched the word.mvps site and the internet for some guidance in how
to accomplish this procedure, but haven't found anything even close. Any
help would be greatly appreciated.

Roger Marrs

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Roger,

I am working on a document that contains a number of checkboxes and
bookmarks, the value/contents of which are dependent upon the value of
numerous fields in multipe records in a database. Basically, I want to
perform a MailMerge operation, but I need to translate most of the
information in the data source file into CheckBox values, rather than text.

You'll find a suggestion in the mail merge faq on my website for associating
symbols with mergefields, inside an IF field. Perhaps that will help?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[Roger Marrs]

Thank you Cindy. I'll work on this from the MailMerge angle and see how it
comes together. I was hoping to avoid performing a mailmerge and then using
that result to create my end product, but it may be the way to go.

Roger

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Roger,

I'll work on this from the MailMerge angle and see how it
comes together. I was hoping to avoid performing a mailmerge and then using
that result to create my end product, but it may be the way to go.

I triggered on MailMerge in your subject line. There's almost certainly a way
to do this without mailmerge (try inserting a symbol - record a macro when
doing that in the Word UI to get the basic syntax). Let me know...

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[Roger Marrs]

Cindy,

I followed your suggestion and recorded a macro while inserting a Registered
symbol into a document:

Selection.InsertSymbol Font:="Times New Roman", CharacterNumber:=174, _
Unicode:=True
However, I'm unclear as to how that syntax would apply to what I'm trying to
accomplish.

Roger