Mail Merge & Combo Boxes

[jts164]

What is the trick to doing a mail merge with Access record data that use
a combo-box for storing/looking up data?
My problem is that if I do a mail merge, a number is displayed in
fields that are used to ordinarily display other data (in the Access
database), such as names. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John Vinson]

What is the trick to doing a mail merge with Access record data that use
a combo-box for storing/looking up data?

Data is not stored in combo boxes. It's stored in fields in tables.

A Combo Box is a TOOL to display data. It's not the data.

My problem is that if I do a mail merge, a number is displayed in
fields that are used to ordinarily display other data (in the Access
database), such as names. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Base your Mail Merge, not on the table with the <yuck, PTOOIE!> Lookup
Field (a misdesigned feature for exactly this reason), but on a Query
joining the data table to the lookup table.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[jts164]

So, in my case, I have a "customers" table with information for all the
customers I deal with. In the "customers" table, I have a cell called
"engineer" that holds the information for what engineer was related to that
particular project.

 

[jts164]

So, if the mail merge is based on the "customers" table and the
relationship between the "Customers" and "Engineer" tables is through the
customers.eng field, then how should I do the mail merge?
How shoudl i do the query? Should I do a SQL union query or ???

 

[John Vinson]

So, if the mail merge is based on the "customers" table and the
relationship between the "Customers" and "Engineer" tables is through the
customers.eng field, then how should I do the mail merge?
How shoudl i do the query? Should I do a SQL union query or ???

Create a Query in the query design window. Add the Customer table and
the Engineer table. If Access doesn't do so automatically, join them
by the [eng] field.

Select the customer fields that you need for the mail merge from the
Customers table; select the engineer's name from the Engineer table.
Save the query, and base your mail merge on it.

This thread is an EXCELLENT example of why most serious developers
dislike the "Lookup Wizard". Your customer table *appears* to contain
the engineer's name, and you (quite reasonably!) try to use it in a
mail merge as if it did. Of course, it doesn't contain the engineer's
name; it contains an ID, and this basic fact is concealed from your
view. And, worse, the availability of the lookup removes any incentive
for you to learn to use Queries, the essential basis of any real
Access application.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[jts164]

Thanks. It took me a while to get the relationship right, (it's been a
while since I created the db and set up all the relationships). It works
just as it should.

So, if the mail merge is based on the "customers" table and the
relationship between the "Customers" and "Engineer" tables is through the
customers.eng field, then how should I do the mail merge?
How shoudl i do the query? Should I do a SQL union query or ???

Create a Query in the query design window. Add the Customer table and
the Engineer table. If Access doesn't do so automatically, join them
by the [eng] field.

Select the customer fields that you need for the mail merge from the
Customers table; select the engineer's name from the Engineer table.
Save the query, and base your mail merge on it.

This thread is an EXCELLENT example of why most serious developers
dislike the "Lookup Wizard". Your customer table *appears* to contain
the engineer's name, and you (quite reasonably!) try to use it in a
mail merge as if it did. Of course, it doesn't contain the engineer's
name; it contains an ID, and this basic fact is concealed from your
view. And, worse, the availability of the lookup removes any incentive
for you to learn to use Queries, the essential basis of any real
Access application.

John W. Vinson[MVP]