Merging data from two consecutive access records in Word 2002

[Frank Spade]

I have an access table with records of members and their partners. They are
next to each other in the table.

I want to print one address lable for each pair (to save postage) in the
form

<<firstname>> & <<fristname+1>> <<lastname>>
<<address>>
<<city>>, <<state>> <<zip>>
<<skip 1 record>>

where <<firstname+1>> is the supposed to be the reference to the firstname
field of the next record and <<skip 1 record>> indicates that one record is
to be skipped to point to the next pair once one label is printed.

Does Word have a syntax that allows to do this oder is there another way to
do it?

Thank you for any helpful advice.

 

[Monika Krug]

Assuming all the data of the member (like address, city)
is identically copied at the partner, do it like this:

<<firstname>> {NEXT} <<firstname>> <<lastname>>
<<address>>
<<city>>, <<state>> <<zip>>

So it uses the first name of the member, goes to the next
record, uses the first name, last name, address etc. of
the partner.

Do not type the { and }. Press Strg+F9 to create a field,
this shows as {}, then type NEXT in between. With Alt+F9
you can toggle between showing and hiding field code.

Alternatively, if you have the merge toolbar switched on,
click on Insert Word Field and select Next Record. When
Field codes are toggled off, this will show as <<Next
Record>>, when they are toggled on, it will show as {NEXT}.

Monika.

 

[Frank Spade]

Beautiful idea! Thanks a bunch and happy holidays!

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Does Word have a syntax that allows to do this

Not really.

oder is there another way to
do it?

If /all/ your records are in pairs and Word reads them in correct sequence
(which is not guaranteed unless you specify a sequence in an Access query
and use that as the data source), you may be able to do soemthing. In the
simplest possible case where all the data except firstname is duppicated,
you might be able to use

<<firstname>><<Next record>> & <<fristname+1>> <<lastname>>
<<address>>
<<city>>, <<state>> <<zip>>

If the data isn't duplicated, you could try something like

{ SET fn1 { MERGEFIELD firstname }
}{ SET ln1 { MERGEFIELD lastname }
}{ SET ad1 { MERGEFIELD address }
}{ SET ci1 { MERGEFIELD city }
}{ SET st1 { MERGEFIELD state }
}{ SET zi1 { MERGEFIELD zip }
}{ SET otherfield1 { MERGEFIELD otherfield }
} etc. then

{ NEXT }{ REF fn1 } & { MERGEFIELD firstname } { REF ln1 }
{ REF ad1 }
{ REF ci1 }, { REF st1 } { REF zi1 }

where all the {} are the special field braces you can insert using ctrl-F9.

However, if the situation is more complicatedd some records are paired and
some are not, I think you will have difficulty using { NEXT } to get the
result you want. Personally, I would consider pre-processing the Access data
in some way to create the records I really need for the merge.

Peter Jamieson