Mailmerge - Word 2000

[Sandra via OfficeKB.com]

I currently have a database holding details of 400+ members.

Each member is to receive a letter containing standard text. Depending on
circumstances each member will need variable paragraph(s) inserting in the
same place within the document (somewhere in the middle of the standard text).
There are approximately 20 different paragraphs and one member might need two
of the standard paragraphs inserting whilst another might need nine of the
standard paragraphs inserting, etc.

I can't think of any way to link the individual paragraphs to each member's
record in the database to enable me to merge. Is this possible?

At the moment the paragraphs are just one long document.

The only way I can think of is to save each individual paragraph as an
autotext entry and then insert the required paragraph into the individual
letters, although this would mean re-typing all the names, address,
salutation again.

Your advice would be most appreciated.

Sandra

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I can't think of any way to link the individual paragraphs to each

member's
record in the database to enable me to merge. Is this possible?

There are various ways you could approach this, depending on the precise
requirements.

Broadly speaking, if I were doing it, I would probably try to put most of my
effort into getting the data correct:
a. add twenty fields/columns to my database, one for each different
paragraph
b. ensure that each record in my database specified the correct paragraphs
c. use { IF } fields in my Word MailMerge Main document to include or
exclude each paragraph, e.g. if the fields are named para1,para2,...,para20
and each field contains "Y" to include the paragraph, "" or "N" otherwise:

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para2 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 2 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para3 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 3 text here" ""
}

and so on, where all the {} are the special field code braces you can insert
using ctrl-F9.

If, on the other hand, you really have to do this stuff on an ad-hoc basis,
you could use ASK fields to prompt the user for information about which
paragraphs to include, and test the results. However, in my view that's
asking for trouble.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Sandra via OfficeKB.com]

Thank you for your response.

Database
I understand to insert 20 columns and name them P1 ........P20.
I understand to insert in each member's record a 'Y' or 'N' (as appropriate)
across the whole 20 columns.

To clarify: do I insert the IF fields 20 times (including the appropriate
paragraph wording) into the Main document? Also, where it says "para 1 text
here" "" do I insert my text "If you have contributed to ............" ""
retaining as many quotation marks?

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para2 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 2 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para3 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 3 text here" ""
}

Sorry for being so pedantic but I've never used { IF } fields before and have
only ever done very basic mailmerges.


Regards
Sandra

I can't think of any way to link the individual paragraphs to each
member's
record in the database to enable me to merge. Is this possible?

There are various ways you could approach this, depending on the precise
requirements.

Broadly speaking, if I were doing it, I would probably try to put most of my
effort into getting the data correct:
a. add twenty fields/columns to my database, one for each different
paragraph
b. ensure that each record in my database specified the correct paragraphs
c. use { IF } fields in my Word MailMerge Main document to include or
exclude each paragraph, e.g. if the fields are named para1,para2,...,para20
and each field contains "Y" to include the paragraph, "" or "N" otherwise:

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para2 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 2 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para3 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 3 text here" ""
}

and so on, where all the {} are the special field code braces you can insert
using ctrl-F9.

If, on the other hand, you really have to do this stuff on an ad-hoc basis,
you could use ASK fields to prompt the user for information about which
paragraphs to include, and test the results. However, in my view that's
asking for trouble.

Peter Jamieson

I currently have a database holding details of 400+ members.

[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]

Sandra

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Hi Sandra,

To clarify: do I insert the IF fields 20 times (including the appropriate
paragraph wording) into the Main document?

Yes, it is tedious, but I think it is the simplest approach.

The reason I have used this layout

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para2 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 2 text here" ""
}

is because it does not generate a new paragraph (or carriage return) when
the "IF" field evaluates as "false" or "no".

Also, where it says "para 1 text
here" "" do I insert my text "If you have contributed to ............" ""
retaining as many quotation marks?

Yes. If I said

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}
but you need to say

If you have contributed to ............

use

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "If you have contributed to
............." ""
}

The second "" is the empty text that is inserted if { MERGEFIELD para1 } is
not equal to "Y".

If your text contains double-quote characters, you may need to do a bit more
than that.

I suggest you try doing your merge to a new document, whcih will allow you
to check your output without printing anything or sending any e-mails.

Peter Jamieson

I can't think of any way to link the individual paragraphs to each
member's
record in the database to enable me to merge. Is this possible?

There are various ways you could approach this, depending on the precise
requirements.

Broadly speaking, if I were doing it, I would probably try to put most of
my
effort into getting the data correct:
a. add twenty fields/columns to my database, one for each different
paragraph
b. ensure that each record in my database specified the correct
paragraphs
c. use { IF } fields in my Word MailMerge Main document to include or
exclude each paragraph, e.g. if the fields are named
para1,para2,...,para20
and each field contains "Y" to include the paragraph, "" or "N" otherwise:

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para2 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 2 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para3 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 3 text here" ""
}

and so on, where all the {} are the special field code braces you can
insert
using ctrl-F9.

If, on the other hand, you really have to do this stuff on an ad-hoc
basis,
you could use ASK fields to prompt the user for information about which
paragraphs to include, and test the results. However, in my view that's
asking for trouble.

Peter Jamieson

I currently have a database holding details of 400+ members.

[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]

Sandra

 

[Sandra via OfficeKB.com]

Hi Peter

Thank you so much for your help. One more thing regarding formatting.....

Paragraph 1, for example, has a main heading under which there are two
bulleted lists. Is it okay to carriage return after the heading and insert
numbers bullets, tabs, coloured font, etc, in the IF fields? In other words,
format as if it were a normal document?

Regards
Sandra

Hi Sandra,

To clarify: do I insert the IF fields 20 times (including the appropriate
paragraph wording) into the Main document?

Yes, it is tedious, but I think it is the simplest approach.

The reason I have used this layout

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para2 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 2 text here" ""
}

is because it does not generate a new paragraph (or carriage return) when
the "IF" field evaluates as "false" or "no".

Also, where it says "para 1 text
here" "" do I insert my text "If you have contributed to ............" ""
retaining as many quotation marks?

Yes. If I said

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}
but you need to say

If you have contributed to ............

use

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "If you have contributed to
............" ""
}

The second "" is the empty text that is inserted if { MERGEFIELD para1 } is
not equal to "Y".

If your text contains double-quote characters, you may need to do a bit more
than that.

I suggest you try doing your merge to a new document, whcih will allow you
to check your output without printing anything or sending any e-mails.

Peter Jamieson

I can't think of any way to link the individual paragraphs to each
member's [quoted text clipped - 37 lines]

Sandra

 

[Peter Jamieson]

You can put carriage returns etc. inside the results of an IF, e.g.

{ IF x = y "line1
line2
line3" "" }

but you may find that there are clashes between the formatting within the IF
field and the formatting of the paragraph that contains the IF field.

If the IF field does not give you what you need, you can try another
approach, which is to use (a) separate document(s) to contain the necessary
text and formatting, and use INCLUDETEXT fields to include the necessary
document(s) or document chunks. If you need more info. on how to do that,
use Google groups to search this newsgroup for examples of INCLUDETEXT,
AUTOTEXT et. or ask again.

Peter Jamieson

Hi Peter

Thank you so much for your help. One more thing regarding formatting.....

Paragraph 1, for example, has a main heading under which there are two
bulleted lists. Is it okay to carriage return after the heading and
insert
numbers bullets, tabs, coloured font, etc, in the IF fields? In other
words,
format as if it were a normal document?

Regards
Sandra

Hi Sandra,

To clarify: do I insert the IF fields 20 times (including the
appropriate
paragraph wording) into the Main document?

Yes, it is tedious, but I think it is the simplest approach.

The reason I have used this layout

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para2 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 2 text here" ""
}

is because it does not generate a new paragraph (or carriage return) when
the "IF" field evaluates as "false" or "no".

Also, where it says "para 1 text
here" "" do I insert my text "If you have contributed to ............"
""
retaining as many quotation marks?

Yes. If I said

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "para 1 text here" ""
}
but you need to say

If you have contributed to ............

use

{ IF "{ MERGEFIELD para1 \*Upper }" = "Y" "If you have contributed to
............" ""
}

The second "" is the empty text that is inserted if { MERGEFIELD para1 }
is
not equal to "Y".

If your text contains double-quote characters, you may need to do a bit
more
than that.

I suggest you try doing your merge to a new document, whcih will allow you
to check your output without printing anything or sending any e-mails.

Peter Jamieson

I can't think of any way to link the individual paragraphs to each
member's

[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]

Sandra

 

[sandralong2 via OfficeKB.com]

I'm really grateful for all your help.

Regards
Sandra

You can put carriage returns etc. inside the results of an IF, e.g.

{ IF x = y "line1
line2
line3" "" }

but you may find that there are clashes between the formatting within the IF
field and the formatting of the paragraph that contains the IF field.

If the IF field does not give you what you need, you can try another
approach, which is to use (a) separate document(s) to contain the necessary
text and formatting, and use INCLUDETEXT fields to include the necessary
document(s) or document chunks. If you need more info. on how to do that,
use Google groups to search this newsgroup for examples of INCLUDETEXT,
AUTOTEXT et. or ask again.

Peter Jamieson

Hi Peter

[quoted text clipped - 64 lines]