Mail Merge - Word97 Small Business Edition

[Earl Lewis]

I am trying to figure out how to make Word97(Small Business Edition)
(SR2 installed) do a mail merge from an .xls file into a form letter.
(My intention is to fold the 8 x 11 sheet over in half to form a
mailable envelope. The mailing is to a paltry 40-member club.) This is
the first time I ever attempted a mail merge. The documentation, of
course, sucks.[ But I do think that Microsoft has gotten a LITTLE
better about that since 1997. I'm used to trying to deciper their
compiler help files, so I'm used to it.] Here's what I've got working
so far:
Below I list the 'fields' I've inserted in the 'main document' (I
guess I'd call this a template, but what do I know)


«Name»
«Address»
«City», «St» «zip»«Next Record»


and on the second page of the main document:



«Name»
«Address»
«City», «St» «zip»

I don't understand why I need a 2nd page, but it seems to work better
if I do.
I want to merge into a document, rather than directly to a printer,
naturally. I'd have printed 2 boxes of paper by this time if I didn't
do my experimenting that way.

When I Tools | MailMerge | Merge | Merge, a small window pops up, with
a text box to type something in if I want to. I need to keep clicking
'OK' for the merge to progress. I can't figure out how to keep the
window from popping up, and make it merge automatically. Also, since
this is the first time I've ever tried this, and MicroSoft offers no
examples to emulate, I'm shooting in the dark here.
Can anyone shed any light for me?
Earl

 

[Birgit Albertsmeier]

Dear Earl,
I have never used a second page in a mail-merge. It should not be necessary
at all.
As you already write it is very sensible to merge into a document instead of
to the printer. That last is only an option if you know the document is ok
and you want to merge to thousands of records.

As for the window that pops up: it sounds as if you may have inserted a
Fill-in field into your document. You can switch to see the fieldcodes by
pressing Alt + F9. Remove the fill-in including the brackets {FILLIN
....whatever more you find here}. You should be rid of the problem after
this.

For documentation on mailmerge try http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/index.htm
and post back with any questions that may stay open.

HTH, Birgit