Mail Merge O/L 2003

[Bons]

I have had an interesting phenominon happen. Am using O/L 2003 and have
always done my mail merge the same way---and teach it. (That's really why
I'm the most concerned--the way I've been teaching all of a sudden is not
working in MY O/L--I can figure out some work-arounds--but this would really
confuse some of my sturdents) So anyway....I start in Contacts--Up to
Tools--Mail Merge --out to Word--Select my 5160 labels and close the
wizard....then I go up to the MM tool bar and click on Merge Fields---HERE's
where it went haywire today---I've always just chosen Full Name and Mailing
Address. I hit the view-- then propogate labels and finish the merge. I've
done this tons of times and it's always worked...all of a sudden today when I
hit Full Name many (but NOT all) are reversed--so instead of saying John
Smith it now reads Smith John. I cannot figure out what happened. I've
always had my File As set as Last Name first, so I can use the rolodex on the
side to find people. As an experiment I went in and changed a bunch of the
File As to First Name first....that worked in SOME instances, but not all. I
do know that instead of inserting Full Name I can insert First Name, Last
Name....but it's so much easier to teach if it's JUST Full name. A lot of my
students get really blown away by that long list of options.
When I go into a contact and look at the Full name---all of my First Names
are where they should be as are the Last Names....Does ANYONE have an idea as
to what could have caused this problem??? As I say, I know plenty of
work-arounds for myself---don't need any suggestions there---I just want to
make sure I'm not causing some probs for my students down the road. Thanks
for any light you can shed on this!!

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

I think you may be creating some problems for your students. Even though it
may appear easier, I always avoid using derived fields to construct a mail
merge. Derived fields have a nasty habit of changing whenever you make a
change to the information store or addressing service. It is always safer to
use the individual name and address elements to construct a merge. You're
straying into the Word realm here with this question. So if you need further
help, I'd use the Word mail merge group. They can help a lot more there than
we can.

 

[Judy Gleeson \(MVP Outlook\)]

I'm with Russ on this, use First_name and Last_name for much more reliable
results. I too have taught this many times and find that one key thing is
to have Word off before commencing the merge from Contacts. I have had
document 4576 open! Often doc 7 or higher opens and that means it will not
merge.

--

Regards

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook

www.judygleeson.com
www.deskdoctors.com
Want to be more productive? Outlook 2003 user? Read "7 settings all Outlook
2003 users should change" at www.pragmatix.com.au

I think you may be creating some problems for your students. Even though it
may appear easier, I always avoid using derived fields to construct a mail
merge. Derived fields have a nasty habit of changing whenever you make a
change to the information store or addressing service. It is always safer
to use the individual name and address elements to construct a merge.
You're straying into the Word realm here with this question. So if you need
further help, I'd use the Word mail merge group. They can help a lot more
there than we can.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I have had an interesting phenominon happen. Am using O/L 2003 and have
always done my mail merge the same way---and teach it. (That's really
why
I'm the most concerned--the way I've been teaching all of a sudden is not
working in MY O/L--I can figure out some work-arounds--but this would
really
confuse some of my sturdents) So anyway....I start in Contacts--Up to
Tools--Mail Merge --out to Word--Select my 5160 labels and close the
wizard....then I go up to the MM tool bar and click on Merge
Fields---HERE's
where it went haywire today---I've always just chosen Full Name and
Mailing
Address. I hit the view-- then propogate labels and finish the merge.
I've
done this tons of times and it's always worked...all of a sudden today
when I
hit Full Name many (but NOT all) are reversed--so instead of saying John
Smith it now reads Smith John. I cannot figure out what happened. I've
always had my File As set as Last Name first, so I can use the rolodex on
the
side to find people. As an experiment I went in and changed a bunch of
the
File As to First Name first....that worked in SOME instances, but not
all. I
do know that instead of inserting Full Name I can insert First Name, Last
Name....but it's so much easier to teach if it's JUST Full name. A lot
of my
students get really blown away by that long list of options.
When I go into a contact and look at the Full name---all of my First
Names
are where they should be as are the Last Names....Does ANYONE have an
idea as
to what could have caused this problem??? As I say, I know plenty of
work-arounds for myself---don't need any suggestions there---I just want
to
make sure I'm not causing some probs for my students down the road.
Thanks
for any light you can shed on this!!

 

[Bons]

Thanks for your quick response, guys! OK---I can live with teaching the
First/Last thing....but any ideas as to what could have caused the change??
Like I said....ALL of the contacts are entered the same way....yet SOME come
out First/Last and some come out Last/First----would love to figure out what
I've done wrong to make this happen. Thanks again---I really appreciate
being able to come to this site to find answers to puter mysteries!

I'm with Russ on this, use First_name and Last_name for much more reliable
results. I too have taught this many times and find that one key thing is
to have Word off before commencing the merge from Contacts. I have had
document 4576 open! Often doc 7 or higher opens and that means it will not
merge.

--

Regards

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook

www.judygleeson.com
www.deskdoctors.com
Want to be more productive? Outlook 2003 user? Read "7 settings all Outlook
2003 users should change" at www.pragmatix.com.au

I think you may be creating some problems for your students. Even though it
may appear easier, I always avoid using derived fields to construct a mail
merge. Derived fields have a nasty habit of changing whenever you make a
change to the information store or addressing service. It is always safer
to use the individual name and address elements to construct a merge.
You're straying into the Word realm here with this question. So if you need
further help, I'd use the Word mail merge group. They can help a lot more
there than we can.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I have had an interesting phenominon happen. Am using O/L 2003 and have
always done my mail merge the same way---and teach it. (That's really
why
I'm the most concerned--the way I've been teaching all of a sudden is not
working in MY O/L--I can figure out some work-arounds--but this would
really
confuse some of my sturdents) So anyway....I start in Contacts--Up to
Tools--Mail Merge --out to Word--Select my 5160 labels and close the
wizard....then I go up to the MM tool bar and click on Merge
Fields---HERE's
where it went haywire today---I've always just chosen Full Name and
Mailing
Address. I hit the view-- then propogate labels and finish the merge.
I've
done this tons of times and it's always worked...all of a sudden today
when I
hit Full Name many (but NOT all) are reversed--so instead of saying John
Smith it now reads Smith John. I cannot figure out what happened. I've
always had my File As set as Last Name first, so I can use the rolodex on
the
side to find people. As an experiment I went in and changed a bunch of
the
File As to First Name first....that worked in SOME instances, but not
all. I
do know that instead of inserting Full Name I can insert First Name, Last
Name....but it's so much easier to teach if it's JUST Full name. A lot
of my
students get really blown away by that long list of options.
When I go into a contact and look at the Full name---all of my First
Names
are where they should be as are the Last Names....Does ANYONE have an
idea as
to what could have caused this problem??? As I say, I know plenty of
work-arounds for myself---don't need any suggestions there---I just want
to
make sure I'm not causing some probs for my students down the road.
Thanks
for any light you can shed on this!!

 

[Bons]

Here's another piece of the puzzle---I've been trying to figure out the
difference between the contacts that did Last/First and First/Last...in
looking at individual contacts I'm seeing the difference.....When I open a
contact in the FULL NAME field some say Last/First and some are
First/Last....when I open the field completely the first names are in the
correct spot as are the last names....all were entered the same way---what
could trigger OL to swittch them?

Thanks for your quick response, guys! OK---I can live with teaching the
First/Last thing....but any ideas as to what could have caused the change??
Like I said....ALL of the contacts are entered the same way....yet SOME come
out First/Last and some come out Last/First----would love to figure out what
I've done wrong to make this happen. Thanks again---I really appreciate
being able to come to this site to find answers to puter mysteries!

I'm with Russ on this, use First_name and Last_name for much more reliable
results. I too have taught this many times and find that one key thing is
to have Word off before commencing the merge from Contacts. I have had
document 4576 open! Often doc 7 or higher opens and that means it will not
merge.

--

Regards

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook

www.judygleeson.com
www.deskdoctors.com
Want to be more productive? Outlook 2003 user? Read "7 settings all Outlook
2003 users should change" at www.pragmatix.com.au

I think you may be creating some problems for your students. Even though it
may appear easier, I always avoid using derived fields to construct a mail
merge. Derived fields have a nasty habit of changing whenever you make a
change to the information store or addressing service. It is always safer
to use the individual name and address elements to construct a merge.
You're straying into the Word realm here with this question. So if you need
further help, I'd use the Word mail merge group. They can help a lot more
there than we can.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I have had an interesting phenominon happen. Am using O/L 2003 and have
always done my mail merge the same way---and teach it. (That's really
why
I'm the most concerned--the way I've been teaching all of a sudden is not
working in MY O/L--I can figure out some work-arounds--but this would
really
confuse some of my sturdents) So anyway....I start in Contacts--Up to
Tools--Mail Merge --out to Word--Select my 5160 labels and close the
wizard....then I go up to the MM tool bar and click on Merge
Fields---HERE's
where it went haywire today---I've always just chosen Full Name and
Mailing
Address. I hit the view-- then propogate labels and finish the merge.
I've
done this tons of times and it's always worked...all of a sudden today
when I
hit Full Name many (but NOT all) are reversed--so instead of saying John
Smith it now reads Smith John. I cannot figure out what happened. I've
always had my File As set as Last Name first, so I can use the rolodex on
the
side to find people. As an experiment I went in and changed a bunch of
the
File As to First Name first....that worked in SOME instances, but not
all. I
do know that instead of inserting Full Name I can insert First Name, Last
Name....but it's so much easier to teach if it's JUST Full name. A lot
of my
students get really blown away by that long list of options.
When I go into a contact and look at the Full name---all of my First
Names
are where they should be as are the Last Names....Does ANYONE have an
idea as
to what could have caused this problem??? As I say, I know plenty of
work-arounds for myself---don't need any suggestions there---I just want
to
make sure I'm not causing some probs for my students down the road.
Thanks
for any light you can shed on this!!

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Outlook frequently fails to format derived fields properly whenever Outlook
data is migrated incorrectly, like by importing for example. That's the most
common reason this happens in my experience.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Here's another piece of the puzzle---I've been trying to figure out the
difference between the contacts that did Last/First and First/Last...in
looking at individual contacts I'm seeing the difference.....When I open a
contact in the FULL NAME field some say Last/First and some are
First/Last....when I open the field completely the first names are in the
correct spot as are the last names....all were entered the same way---what
could trigger OL to swittch them?

Thanks for your quick response, guys! OK---I can live with teaching the
First/Last thing....but any ideas as to what could have caused the
change??
Like I said....ALL of the contacts are entered the same way....yet SOME
come
out First/Last and some come out Last/First----would love to figure out
what
I've done wrong to make this happen. Thanks again---I really appreciate
being able to come to this site to find answers to puter mysteries!

I'm with Russ on this, use First_name and Last_name for much more
reliable
results. I too have taught this many times and find that one key thing
is
to have Word off before commencing the merge from Contacts. I have had
document 4576 open! Often doc 7 or higher opens and that means it will
not
merge.

--

Regards

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook

www.judygleeson.com
www.deskdoctors.com
Want to be more productive? Outlook 2003 user? Read "7 settings all
Outlook
2003 users should change" at www.pragmatix.com.au

I think you may be creating some problems for your students. Even
though it
may appear easier, I always avoid using derived fields to construct a
mail
merge. Derived fields have a nasty habit of changing whenever you make
a
change to the information store or addressing service. It is always
safer
to use the individual name and address elements to construct a merge.
You're straying into the Word realm here with this question. So if you
need
further help, I'd use the Word mail merge group. They can help a lot
more
there than we can.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I have had an interesting phenominon happen. Am using O/L 2003 and
have
always done my mail merge the same way---and teach it. (That's
really
why
I'm the most concerned--the way I've been teaching all of a sudden
is not
working in MY O/L--I can figure out some work-arounds--but this
would
really
confuse some of my sturdents) So anyway....I start in Contacts--Up
to
Tools--Mail Merge --out to Word--Select my 5160 labels and close the
wizard....then I go up to the MM tool bar and click on Merge
Fields---HERE's
where it went haywire today---I've always just chosen Full Name and
Mailing
Address. I hit the view-- then propogate labels and finish the
merge.
I've
done this tons of times and it's always worked...all of a sudden
today
when I
hit Full Name many (but NOT all) are reversed--so instead of saying
John
Smith it now reads Smith John. I cannot figure out what happened.
I've
always had my File As set as Last Name first, so I can use the
rolodex on
the
side to find people. As an experiment I went in and changed a bunch
of
the
File As to First Name first....that worked in SOME instances, but
not
all. I
do know that instead of inserting Full Name I can insert First Name,
Last
Name....but it's so much easier to teach if it's JUST Full name. A
lot
of my
students get really blown away by that long list of options.
When I go into a contact and look at the Full name---all of my First
Names
are where they should be as are the Last Names....Does ANYONE have
an
idea as
to what could have caused this problem??? As I say, I know plenty
of
work-arounds for myself---don't need any suggestions there---I just
want
to
make sure I'm not causing some probs for my students down the road.
Thanks
for any light you can shed on this!!