Word 2003 Mail Merge Issues - Help Needed

[saveena.kitten]

I've got to be missing something... and it is probably very simple.

I pull up a blank Word document.
Add verbiage for a generic letter formatted in Times New Roman with 12
point font.
Create a new mail merge list in Word.
Insert where the datapoints/bookmarks will go.
When the data is added to the letter, all of the datapoints have
different font sizes and types!


What have I missed? Why does a Times New Roman with 12 pt font turn
into 10 pt Courier New and 10 pt Times New Roman?


I do a Ctrl+A to change the font all back to what it should be, but
there has to be a way around this font change during the recipient list

merge.


Thanks,


Lisa

 

[Cooz]

Hi Lisaveena,

What happens when you press Ctrl-A, Ctrl-Space?
With this action, you remove direct formatting. Only the formatting defined
in your styles is left.
I suspect 12 pt to be direct formatting, where the mergefields only have
style formatting.
Have your styles right, and you are probably ok.

Good luck,
Cooz

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Lisa

I can't explain WHY this happens; it's just something mail merge fields
sometimes do. But I can tell you how to get control of it, I think

1. Alt+F9 to display all the field codes

2. Now run Find/Replace to remove this text: \* MergeFormat

3. Alt+F9 again to hide the field codes

4. Test merging to a new document.

5. If there's still some instability, note which fields are a problem,
go back into the main merge document, display the field codes again and
add, at the end of the field: \* CharFormat

This will force the field result to adapt the formatting of the first
character in the field code.

I pull up a blank Word document.
Add verbiage for a generic letter formatted in Times New Roman with 12
point font.
Create a new mail merge list in Word.
Insert where the datapoints/bookmarks will go.
When the data is added to the letter, all of the datapoints have
different font sizes and types!


What have I missed? Why does a Times New Roman with 12 pt font turn
into 10 pt Courier New and 10 pt Times New Roman?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[saveena.kitten]

Thank you! Sadly, the word format does not appear anywhere after I
display the field codes.

~ Lisa

 

[saveena.kitten]

Wow! That changed the entire document. Now the surrounding text
matches the merged font style and size. How bizarre. Thank you for
the tip. Now I just need to figure out how to turn off the auto-style
format piece. Or get the styles set up correctly for this document.

This is my first real gig as a tech writer, so I have not used styles
very much.

Thanks again for your help!

Lisa

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Learn and use styles. They are at the heart of formatting in Word.
http://addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/TipsOnStyles.html
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Graham Mayor]

That doesn't matter - add the \*charformat switch manually to the affected
fields thus

{Mergefield fieldname \*charformat}

Then update the fields and toggle the display back again.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[saveena.kitten]

I tried to locate the information on Microsoft prior to posting, but I
must have been querying the wrong phrase. Thanks so much for the
links. I will read them.

Generally, I dislike Word's styles and prefer to do my own thing. It
would probably be good to learn how to work with the beast rather than
fighting it all the time.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

If it is any help to you, I never use Word's built-in styles if I can
possibly help it. When I define my own paragraph styles, I always base them
on "(no style)" or other styles I have defined (i.e. I don't even base them
on Normal).

However, you may find that you can't avoid using some of Word's style names,
particularly for stuff such as footnote references and so on.

Peter Jamieson