I fixed it! There must be a more straight-forward method to do this common
task, but I had to Select All in the merged document to select all 38 pages,
then click FormatReveal Formatting, then click Layout under Section, then
select Continuous. It was (and still is, I can't seem to change the default)
set to Begin Section on New Page. There's got to be an easier way, but this
ridiculously involved method worked so I'm done. Thank you again for setting
me on the right road!

"Vicki" wrote:

Peter, thank you for all your help. I will work on it some more and see if I
can fix the paragraph formatting. It's using the Normal formatting but maybe
I can make a new one and make sure it has no page breaks. I followed your
directions again and the Page Break Before was unchecked to begin with, but
Widows and Orphans was checked, so I unchecked that. I'll keep trying and
thank you again for all the detailed help. I think they made Word way more
difficult than it needs to be!

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

OK, it sounds as if it is associated with the paragraph r the paragraph
style.

Suppose you have the following paragraphs in your mail merge main document

A
B
C
D

and that in the output you end up with

A1
B1
new page
C1
D1
A2
B2
new page
C2
D2
etc.

then you should
a. click in paragraph C in your mail merge main document, then click
Format|Stles and Formatting. The "Styles and Formatting" task pane should
pop up.
b. Select the highlighted style name in the task pane, right-click and
select "Modify"
c. Click the Format button in the lower left hand corner of the dialog box
that appears, then Paragraph
d. Click "Line and Page Breaks", then Uncheck "Page Break Before", then
press OKuntil finished.

That should deal with the case where the paragaph /style/ has page break
associated with it. If it is the indvidual paragraph, you'll need to figure
that out for yourself or ask again as I have to finish now...

Peter Jamieson
"Vicki" wrote in message
...
Okay, so I found the problem with the formatting, but I don't know how to
fix
it. When I do the merge as you suggested I still get multiple pages.
When I
reveal the formatting with the paragraph symbol button there is a section
break (next page) format after the first record. It's not there when I
start
the new document in the beginning. I have clicked FormatClear formatting
but that didn't change anything. How do I clear that formatting out of
there
before I merge?

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Can you figure out where I went astray?

It's not obvious. It's certainly not how directory merges usually work,
so
something unusual must be going on.

What happens if you start with a completely blank document and
a. connect to the data source
b. insert /one/ mailmerge field, with no additional lines after it
c. ensure that the paragraph does not have "page break before" specified
d. ensure that the page layout is (say) single page, not double-page
layout
etc.
e. do the merge?

I would expect to see the data for the selected field appear one record
after another without even a paragraph break, e.g. if the value in record
1
was A, in record 2 was B, and so on, I would actually expect to see
ABC...

If I put one more paragraph mark after the field, I would expect to see
A
B
C

Peter Jamieson

"Vicki" wrote in message
...
Thank you. I've done everything you said (I'm using Word 2002 but the
menu
choice is Directory, not Catalog). Can you figure out where I went
astray?
1) open new doc 2)Insert 1 row table with 2 columns and open data
source
3)
insert mail merge field Last Name in first cell and Address in second
cell
4)
Click Merge to New Document. I got 39 pages with one address on each.

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

Are you sure that you are using a Directory type mailmerge main
document.
I
assume that because of your use of the terminology "*.mdb recipients
list"
that you are using Word XP or Word 2003. If you are using an earlier
version of Word, it is called a Catalog type mail merge.

In either case, if you insert a one row table into the main document
and
into the cells of that table, you insert the mergefields, then when
you
execute the merge to a new document, that new document will contain a
row
of
data for each record in the data source.

There should be nothing else in the main document apart from that one
row
table.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

"Vicki" wrote in message
...
I think I didn't put enough in my main document (I had only Last Name
and
Address on one line). What do I put there if I want is a list of
Last
Name
and Address for each record? How do I get it to put consecutive
records
on
the same page? Thank you for helping.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Ok, it shouldn't, unless you have done something like..
a. inserted a page break in your mail merge main document
b. inserted a paragraph that has "page break before" formatting,
or
used
a
paragraph style with that formatting attached (I would suspect the
latter,
if you have used a Heading style to introduce each entry in your
directory).

Peter Jamieson
"Vicki" wrote in message
...
I chose the Directory option. That is what put each record on a
separate
page.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

In the first step of the Mail Merge Wizard, or using the first
button
on
the
Mail Merge toolbar, choose the "Directory" option.

Peter Jamieson

"Vicki" wrote in message
...
I have printed envelopes using a mail merge in Word. How do I
print
a
one-page list of the recipients' names and addresses using the
same
*.mdb
list? When I try to make a directory from the recipients'
list
each
record
is on a separate page. I want all records to be on one page.
In
other
words, I want a single-page list of the people I sent
invitations
to.
Any
help?