[Mari]

I have MSW 2007 and have merged before. I click Start Mail Merge, then
Letter but the Write & Insert Fields section is gray and is not accessible so
I can't enter any fields. This happens on a new blank page and a
pre-existing document. What is going on? Am I missing a step somehow?

[Peter Jamieson]

Just going by what you have said, did you do the "Select Recipients" step ?

if you did, and the /next/ button along (Edit Recipient List) is still
greyed out), then the most likely explanation is that
a. Word has failed to connect to the data source you selected
b. Word didn't display any kind of error message

(a) + (b) can certainly happen, but if that's what you think it is,
maybe you could tell us what type of data source you are trying to use
(Excel, Outlook, Access,... )

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Mari wrote:
I have MSW 2007 and have merged before. I click Start Mail Merge, then
Letter but the Write & Insert Fields section is gray and is not accessible so
I can't enter any fields. This happens on a new blank page and a
pre-existing document. What is going on? Am I missing a step somehow?

[Mari]

I'm trying to add fields to a pre-existing document and the Insert Merge
Field, etc section is grayed out. I went to an old file I'd used before and
it is working there, so I must be missing a step somewhere. I'm not dealing
with the recipient files.



"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Just going by what you have said, did you do the "Select Recipients" step ?

if you did, and the /next/ button along (Edit Recipient List) is still
greyed out), then the most likely explanation is that
a. Word has failed to connect to the data source you selected
b. Word didn't display any kind of error message

(a) + (b) can certainly happen, but if that's what you think it is,
maybe you could tell us what type of data source you are trying to use
(Excel, Outlook, Access,... )

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Mari wrote:
I have MSW 2007 and have merged before. I click Start Mail Merge, then
Letter but the Write & Insert Fields section is gray and is not accessible so
I can't enter any fields. This happens on a new blank page and a
pre-existing document. What is going on? Am I missing a step somehow?

[Peter Jamieson]

I went to an old file I'd used before and
it is working there, so I must be missing a step somewhere.

My suggestion was:

did you do the "Select Recipients" step ?

And it stil seems to me that that is what you need to look at.

"Select Recipients" is not really the right expression in Word. What you
are really doing when you click this button is selecting the data source
that you want to merge. That data might not be about "recipients".

From what you say, it sounds as if it is not, but if you are opening an
old file, the data source may have become detached, and you may need to
select it again, and you use the Select Recipients to do that, even if
your data source does not actually conatain "recipient" info.

But just to be sure, is the Edit Recipient List greyed out?

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Mari wrote:
I'm trying to add fields to a pre-existing document and the Insert Merge
Field, etc section is grayed out. I went to an old file I'd used before and
it is working there, so I must be missing a step somewhere. I'm not dealing
with the recipient files.



"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Just going by what you have said, did you do the "Select Recipients" step ?

if you did, and the /next/ button along (Edit Recipient List) is still
greyed out), then the most likely explanation is that
a. Word has failed to connect to the data source you selected
b. Word didn't display any kind of error message

(a) + (b) can certainly happen, but if that's what you think it is,
maybe you could tell us what type of data source you are trying to use
(Excel, Outlook, Access,... )

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Mari wrote:
I have MSW 2007 and have merged before. I click Start Mail Merge, then
Letter but the Write & Insert Fields section is gray and is not accessible so
I can't enter any fields. This happens on a new blank page and a
pre-existing document. What is going on? Am I missing a step somehow?

[Mari]

OK, =YES= when I make a recipients file first it does open the merge field
options. I was confused because when I went through the online Office
instructions they say open and format the main document, *then* create the
data source. Thanks!


"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I went to an old file I'd used before and
it is working there, so I must be missing a step somewhere.

My suggestion was:

did you do the "Select Recipients" step ?

And it stil seems to me that that is what you need to look at.

"Select Recipients" is not really the right expression in Word. What you
are really doing when you click this button is selecting the data source
that you want to merge. That data might not be about "recipients".

From what you say, it sounds as if it is not, but if you are opening an
old file, the data source may have become detached, and you may need to
select it again, and you use the Select Recipients to do that, even if
your data source does not actually conatain "recipient" info.

But just to be sure, is the Edit Recipient List greyed out?

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Mari wrote:
I'm trying to add fields to a pre-existing document and the Insert Merge
Field, etc section is grayed out. I went to an old file I'd used before and
it is working there, so I must be missing a step somewhere. I'm not dealing
with the recipient files.



"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Just going by what you have said, did you do the "Select Recipients" step ?

if you did, and the /next/ button along (Edit Recipient List) is still
greyed out), then the most likely explanation is that
a. Word has failed to connect to the data source you selected
b. Word didn't display any kind of error message

(a) + (b) can certainly happen, but if that's what you think it is,
maybe you could tell us what type of data source you are trying to use
(Excel, Outlook, Access,... )

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Mari wrote:
I have MSW 2007 and have merged before. I click Start Mail Merge, then
Letter but the Write & Insert Fields section is gray and is not accessible so
I can't enter any fields. This happens on a new blank page and a
pre-existing document. What is going on? Am I missing a step somehow?