Thanks so much to both of you.
The information at
http://www.gmayor.com/mailmerge_from_outlook.htm was a
Godsend. I wish I would have known about this before.
I have just one last question. I've changed the templates to a file
location that I can find (even thought I realize now that I never needed
templates in the first place). But when Outlook makes a data text file, it
appears to save it in yet another location where I can't get to it
(c:\documents and settings\administrator\local settings\temp\. Again I can't
seem to get to local settings. For what it is worth, this is my home
computer so I am basically the "adminstrator," and I could change whatever
"permissions" are needed to see these folders if I knew how.
But since a lot of these mailings are to the same people in each catagory, I
would love to have a permanent file of these omm1.doc, omm2.doc files, etc.
Then I wouldn't have to continually go back into Outlook to filter the
contacts again. I looked in mail merge helper in editing data sources, etc.,
but I can't figure out a way to get these .docs into a folder where I can
continually retrieve them. Does anyone know of a way to permanently keep
these data files?
Again, thanks so much for you help.
Stephen
"Peter Jamieson" wrote:
In Outlook, I've filtered the categories so that I
only have text next to the box that says "Full Name" and then under
"Addresses" the box says "Business." So in the template, I'm using the
words: ««Full Name»» and ««BusinessAddress»»
You are filtering in two different ways:
a. by filtering using categories, you can specify the contacts you want to
merge
b. by specifying columns in your view, you can specify the columns you want
to be able to use in your merge.
When you want to merge, you should select your view. Then, in Outlook
Tools|"Mail merge...", the "All contacts in current view" button should be
selected by default, so you should get the contacts you want (if you only
want selected contacts within the view, select them and click the "Only
selected contacts" button instead.
Howevere, as far as I know, the "All contact fields" radio button is
selected by default despite the fact that you have restricted the columns in
your view. If you really want to make sure that only the columns you want
are passed to Word, you need to check the "Contact fields in current view"
radio button. Either way, the fields should have the same names.
However, these names are not necessarily the ones you see in your Contacts
folder, and by the time they reach Word, they should be "Full_Name" and
"Business_Address" . The easiest ways to insert them in Word are probably:
a. enable the Mailmerge toolbar (Tools|Customize), click the "Insert merge
Fields" button (on my system it's the 6th button from the left). The
"Database fields" button should be checked by default, but make sure it is,
or you will see a different list and everything will get more confusing.
or...
b. use ctrl-F9 to insert a pair of special field braces {}, then type the
field code between them to give you
{ MERGEFIELD Full_Name }
You can use Alt-F9 to toggle between field codes and field names/results and
the button on the merge toolbar to toggle between field name view (e.g.
Full_Name) and results. You should only have one set of chevrons around
each name in field names view: Full_Name, not Full_Name
Should I possibly using "AddressBlock"?
I wouldn't. If you need to manipulate your name/address fields, ensure that
the individual parts of the names/addresses come trhough to Word, and use IF
fields to create the address layout you want. The same probably goes for
"Greeting Line", and of course you will need to send more fields to Word to
use that correctly - in other words, you should probably leave "All contact
fields" checked in the Outlook mail merge dialog box.
Also, when I try to save a template, I goes into Word's template folder,
which I can't retrieve because it is under c:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator\ApplicationData. But when I go into C:\Documents
and
Settings\Administrator there is no "ApplicationData." So I can't retrieve
the template.
Well, when I suggested you used a .doc what I meant was "Don't set up your
mail merge main document as a Word template. Use an ordinary Word document".
Yes, using templates is how you're supposed to use Word, but when you use
mailmerge they can sometimes cause more problems than they solve. In
particular, when you initiate a merge from Outlook, Outlook simply opens the
template: it doesn't create a new document based on the template.
So IMO we do not really need to solve the "template location" problem.
However, the reason why you can't get to the folder where you saved the
template is probably either because you don't have the right permissions on
your system, or because you would need to check Windows Explorer
Tools|Folder Options|View|"Show hidden files and folders"
I save it with ««Full Name»» and
««BusinessAddress»» and then go into Outlook to begin the merge, it gets
changed to «AddressBlock» «GreetingLine». I assume that this it Word's
default template for mail merge but is there some way to turn it off so
that
I can do the name and address? Eventually, I do want a greeting line but
I
just haven't gotten that far yet.
I think if you insert the fields for Full_Nme and Business_Address
correctly, this will stop happening.
Peter Jamieson
"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
I basically seem to have two problems.
I'm not even sure if I have the correct words in so that it will be
recognized in Outlook. In Outlook, I've filtered the categories so that I
only have text next to the box that says "Full Name" and then under
"Addresses" the box says "Business." So in the template, I'm using the
words: ««Full Name»» and ««BusinessAddress»»
Should I possibly using "AddressBlock"?
Also, when I try to save a template, I goes into Word's template folder,
which I can't retrieve because it is under c:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator\ApplicationData. But when I go into C:\Documents
and
Settings\Administrator there is no "ApplicationData." So I can't retrieve
the template.
Consequently, I've saved it in C:\ss\ which I can at least find. But when
I
try to save a template in this folder, I save it with ««Full Name»» and
««BusinessAddress»» and then go into Outlook to begin the merge, it gets
changed to «AddressBlock» «GreetingLine». I assume that this it Word's
default template for mail merge but is there some way to turn it off so
that
I can do the name and address? Eventually, I do want a greeting line but
I
just haven't gotten that far yet.
Sorry for dumping this all on you. Maybe I should put it in several
separate questions like, "How do you save a template without it
disappearing," etc.
Thanks again for any help you can give me.
Stephen
"Peter Jamieson" wrote:
But when I try mail merge from Outlook into a .dot with Full Name
and
Business Address on it, nothing happens.
I would try creating a .doc with the text/layout/fields you want but no
mailmerge data source. Save it, then make a copy and specify that as the
document to use in the Outlook Mail merge dialog box.
Do you see any signs of activity at all?
Peter Jamieson
"Stephen" wrote in message
...
I am trying to mail merge in Word from Outlook Categories. I have
customized
the current view in Outlook so that it only shows one category and in
that
category is only the Full Name and Business Address.
But when I try mail merge from Outlook into a .dot with Full Name
and
Business Address on it, nothing happens.
When I try to do mail merge from Word, it says "Either there is no
default
mail client or the current mail client cannot fulfill the messaging
request.
Please run Microsoft Office Outlook and set it as the default mail
client."
I have Outlook Express as my default email because I have more than one
Identity. I guess I could change the default to Outlook to do mail
merges
and then change it back again to check my email but I'd rather not, if
possible.
Hopefully, someone can help me out as I am lost.
Thanks a lot for any help anyone can give me.
Stephen