[Graham Mayor]

You can save the filtered data source from the main merge Window in Outlook.
Use that to attach to your future merges.
Check the box for 'permanent file' and give it a name.

Did you set Windows Explorer to display hidden files and folders?

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Stephen wrote:
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