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#1
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mail merge selection criteria
I have a problem with XP mail merge. It seems to have developed since a
routine update. When using selection criteria with an Excel database the system adds additional rows and uses "or" so my careful two lines with "and" are completely over ridden. I never used to add "none" so I have done that but it still adds lines. Specifically I am selecting one field as "blank" and another and "equal to". If I put the "blank" field selection first, and then use "contains" instead of "equal to" I can force it to work on this job. But that is not a proper solution. Am I doing something wrong or could the update have corrupted something? |
#2
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mail merge selection criteria
Hi Barry,
I have a problem with XP mail merge. It seems to have developed since a routine update. When using selection criteria with an Excel database the system adds additional rows and uses "or" so my careful two lines with "and" are completely over ridden. I never used to add "none" so I have done that but it still adds lines. Specifically I am selecting one field as "blank" and another and "equal to". If I put the "blank" field selection first, and then use "contains" instead of "equal to" I can force it to work on this job. But that is not a proper solution. Am I doing something wrong or could the update have corrupted something? The update may have damaged something. I'm not using XP anymore (and I'm anyway very leary of updates since some of the experiences this last year), so I can't do any testing for you, only make some suggestions. If you're willing to work with me to collect some information, I can report this to Microsoft to try to get the "fix" fixed, and a way for you get your filtering done... Can you give me the names of (some of) the fields you use for setting filters (Query options)? Then an exact example of the filter you usually can use. An exact description of the changes Word makes so that it doesn't work after. An exact description of the changes you make so that it "works for this job". What you'll probably have to do is use VBA to set the query, rather than work through the interface. This isn't too hard, really... Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) |
#3
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mail merge selection criteria
Cindy
Thank you for your helpful reply. Among the fields are two that I am sorting on. One is "pletter" and the other "email". Out of a list of around 500 entries I am selecting people who have asked for a periodic letter and who do not have email (I use a group mailing in Outlook for those on email). So the select criteria is "pletter equal to y" and "email is blank". Whichever way round I set that it puts adds "or email is blank". If the "and pletter is equal to y" then follows it is OK. If I select in the other order the "or email is blank" then selects all the entries where that criteria is matched, and this includes many more than I want. I did find that "contains y" provided a better control. I am rather busy now so I will have to run some tests tomorrow and vary the criteria to see what happens. However, the automatic additional "or email is blank" should not happen. My upgrade was IE7 and it messed up at least two other applications so I uninstalled it and am back to IE6 with those programmes now working. I am unable to be sure that the upgrade to IE7 was the cause; I had not noticed it before. Barry "Cindy M." wrote: Hi Barry, I have a problem with XP mail merge. It seems to have developed since a routine update. When using selection criteria with an Excel database the system adds additional rows and uses "or" so my careful two lines with "and" are completely over ridden. I never used to add "none" so I have done that but it still adds lines. Specifically I am selecting one field as "blank" and another and "equal to". If I put the "blank" field selection first, and then use "contains" instead of "equal to" I can force it to work on this job. But that is not a proper solution. Am I doing something wrong or could the update have corrupted something? The update may have damaged something. I'm not using XP anymore (and I'm anyway very leary of updates since some of the experiences this last year), so I can't do any testing for you, only make some suggestions. If you're willing to work with me to collect some information, I can report this to Microsoft to try to get the "fix" fixed, and a way for you get your filtering done... Can you give me the names of (some of) the fields you use for setting filters (Query options)? Then an exact example of the filter you usually can use. An exact description of the changes Word makes so that it doesn't work after. An exact description of the changes you make so that it "works for this job". What you'll probably have to do is use VBA to set the query, rather than work through the interface. This isn't too hard, really... Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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mail merge selection criteria
Hi Barry,
OK, let me be sure I understand you correctly. You're in the "Filter and Sort" dialog box (where there are multiple lines) and you set pletter | equal to | y and email | is blank | Word then adds an additional line: or email | is blank FWIW, when I test this (different field names, but same type of criteria) I see the same with Word 2003 (IE6). What's more, it happens again and again each time I display the dialog box. So I'm guessing this may be some other update than IE... If I use macro code, things appear to work correctly, although the "Filter and Sort" doesn't show the filter I've set. For example: Sub SetMergeFilter() Dim SQl As String Dim TableName As String Dim Crit1 As String, Crit2 As String TableName = "[Office Address List]" Crit1 = "[First Name] = 'Cindy'" Crit2 = "[Last Name] IS NULL" SQl = "SELECT * FROM " & TableName & " WHERE " & Crit1 & " AND " & Crit2 ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSource.QueryString = SQl End Sub You'd basically only need to substitute the information for TableName, Crit1 and Crit2. You could even build a form to enter this. But if you can find a combination in "Filter and Sort" that works reliably, you may prefer that... Among the fields are two that I am sorting on. One is "pletter" and the other "email". Out of a list of around 500 entries I am selecting people who have asked for a periodic letter and who do not have email (I use a group mailing in Outlook for those on email). So the select criteria is "pletter equal to y" and "email is blank". Whichever way round I set that it puts adds "or email is blank". If the "and pletter is equal to y" then follows it is OK. If I select in the other order the "or email is blank" then selects all the entries where that criteria is matched, and this includes many more than I want. I did find that "contains y" provided a better control. I am rather busy now so I will have to run some tests tomorrow and vary the criteria to see what happens. However, the automatic additional "or email is blank" should not happen. My upgrade was IE7 and it messed up at least two other applications so I uninstalled it and am back to IE6 with those programmes now working. I am unable to be sure that the upgrade to IE7 was the cause; I had not noticed it before. Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) |
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