Mail Merge From Selected Outlook 2003 Contacts by Category

[jmcre8]

Trying to mail merge for Name Tags. I believe finally solved the issue of how
to perform a mail merge using a SPECIFIC CATEGORY of Contacts in my Outlook
2003 (merged into Word 2003). Here are my steps ... feel free to improve on
this (or clarify language).

MAIL MERGE IN JUST ONE CATEGORY OF OUTLOOK CONTACTS –
To CREATE Name Tags

1) Open Outlook
2) Open Contacts
3) View, Arrange By, Categories
4) Click on + next to category you wish to merge
5) Click on first name in that list, go to bottom of list, hold shift key
and click on last name on list (to select entire group ... use CTRL key to
de-select any you don’t want)
6) Once names are selected, go to Tool, Mail Merge (on Outlook toolbar)
7) A box will appear ... make sure ONLY selected Contacts has bullet point.
8) In the bottom box choose whether it is a form letter, mailing label,
envelopes – then okay
9) Word will now open and “Mail Merge Helper†box will appear
10) In “Mail Merge Helper†click on Setup in Main Document (section 1)
11) Select correct label and press OK
12) In “Mail Merge Helper†click on Edit in Data Source (section 2)
13) Close the gobbly gook document that appears ... this is a temp file will
all the data
14) OK the next box File Conversions – (names same temp file that just
appeared) ... it will be marked ‘Other encoding:’ ‘Unicode’
15) You will now see a layout with your labels with <<Next Record>>
appearing on all but first label
16) In WORD, go to Tools, Letters and Mailing, Mail Merge
17) Skip to Arrange labels and using ‘Database Fields†put in ‘First_Name’
‘Last_Name’
18) Change any formatting now: i.e. center names, change fone sizews, font
color, font size
19) Update all labels
20) Preview your labels
21) Complete merge
22) Edit individual labels (to look for and correct anything that seems odd)
23) SAVE the finished document (if you wish)

NOTE: These same principles apply to doing an envelope mail merge for just
one category.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

There are several errors here that make your recipe inadvisable and far more
complicated than the proper procedures the Word MVP's have already
documented and made widely available. You should have consulted their
excellent newsgroup and websites.

For starters, these steps are not correct:
12) In “Mail Merge Helper†click on Edit in Data Source (section 2)
13) Close the gobbly gook document that appears ... this is a temp file will
all the data
14) OK the next box File Conversions – (names same temp file that just
appeared) ... it will be marked ‘Other encoding:’ ‘Unicode’
In reality, Mail Merge Helper should not be use in this process at all. It
is a remnant from earlier versions that has no use in Office 2003 and 2007.
The only time you must use it is if you are merging to labels because it is
the only way you can select a pre-defined label type. In that case, you use
it to select your label type then dismiss it immediately and use the Mail
Merge Toolbar to complete your merge. When you do, the following steps will
also become irrelevant:
16) In WORD, go to Tools, Letters and Mailing, Mail Merge
17) Skip to Arrange labels and using ‘Database Fields†put in ‘First_Name’
‘Last_Name’
18) Change any formatting now: i.e. center names, change fone (sic) sizews
(sic), font
color, font size
In reality you use the self-evident commands from the Mail Merge Toolbar to
"Insert Merge Fields" and format the labels. You then use "Propagate Labels"
(2003) or "Update Labels" (2007) to populate your labels and make sure your
merge looks the way you want it to.

Finally, you only need select the Category header when you start the merge
from Outlook. No need to expand the category to select its members.

See? Life is so much simpler when you follow the paths others have made
rather than trying to carve a new one for yourself. Almost always you'll
find someone else has already come up with a better way.