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#1
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Table column widths
I have a mail-merge document that also includes a table filled from an
external database. I have been trying to format the columns in the table to different lengths to accomodate a "name" a "date" and a "dollar amount". Everything seems to work fine except that as soon as I merge to a new document, the resulting tables have all three columns the same width. And what's more, the table in my mail-merge template now has equal-width columns as well. If I close the merged document and the template and then re-open the template, voila...my columns are back to my preferred widths. I've ensured that "automatically resize to fit contents" is turned off in my table definition so it's got to be something else. Any ideas? |
#2
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Hi ?B?RGFuQg==?=,
I have a mail-merge document that also includes a table filled from an external database. I have been trying to format the columns in the table to different lengths to accomodate a "name" a "date" and a "dollar amount". Everything seems to work fine except that as soon as I merge to a new document, the resulting tables have all three columns the same width. And what's more, the table in my mail-merge template now has equal-width columns as well. If I close the merged document and the template and then re-open the template, voila...my columns are back to my preferred widths. I've ensured that "automatically resize to fit contents" is turned off in my table definition so it's got to be something else. Version of word? Is this table linked to outside data (a DataBase field)? If yes, what switches (things that start with a \) does it contain? Mainly, I'm concerned whether there's a \* Mergeformat switch in there. Also, which version of Word do you have? Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) 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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Yes, this document is linked to an external database. The field switches
that apply to formatting that have been included are \l "28" and \b "44". Being new to this functionality and not being the original creator of this document, I haven't been able to figure out what the "28" relates to. Do you just count down 28 entries in the "table styles" list of the Table-Auto-Format window? HELP wasn't real clear on this. I'm currently running Office/Word 2003. Thanks for your help. "Cindy M -WordMVP-" wrote: Hi ?B?RGFuQg==?=, I have a mail-merge document that also includes a table filled from an external database. I have been trying to format the columns in the table to different lengths to accomodate a "name" a "date" and a "dollar amount". Everything seems to work fine except that as soon as I merge to a new document, the resulting tables have all three columns the same width. And what's more, the table in my mail-merge template now has equal-width columns as well. If I close the merged document and the template and then re-open the template, voila...my columns are back to my preferred widths. I've ensured that "automatically resize to fit contents" is turned off in my table definition so it's got to be something else. Version of word? Is this table linked to outside data (a DataBase field)? If yes, what switches (things that start with a \) does it contain? Mainly, I'm concerned whether there's a \* Mergeformat switch in there. Also, which version of Word do you have? Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) 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
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Hi ?B?RGFuQg==?=,
Yes, this document is linked to an external database. The field switches that apply to formatting that have been included are \l "28" and \b "44". Being new to this functionality and not being the original creator of this document, I haven't been able to figure out what the "28" relates to. Do you just count down 28 entries in the "table styles" list of the Table-Auto-Format window? HELP wasn't real clear on this. I'm currently running Office/Word 2003. What about the \* Mergeformat switch? Do you find one? If not, then you need to add this at the end of the form field in order to force Word to retain any formatting you've applied to the table. I'm sure the number you ask about is related to the list in the AutoFormat dialog box, but I wouldn't swear to it being the 28th (or maybe 29th) entry in the list. I'm inclined to say yes, but I'd actually have to take the time (which I currently don't have) to test this extensively before I'd say that :-) Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) 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 :-) |
#5
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Cindy - I added the \*MERGEFORMAT command and my results now look better but
not perfect. I'm also using the WHERE (X = Y) command and as long as only one record from my external database "matches" and is imported per mail-merge document, the formatting is fine. All subsequent matches per document, however, revert back to a format where all 3 columns in the table are the same width. "Cindy M -WordMVP-" wrote: Hi ?B?RGFuQg==?=, Yes, this document is linked to an external database. The field switches that apply to formatting that have been included are \l "28" and \b "44". Being new to this functionality and not being the original creator of this document, I haven't been able to figure out what the "28" relates to. Do you just count down 28 entries in the "table styles" list of the Table-Auto-Format window? HELP wasn't real clear on this. I'm currently running Office/Word 2003. What about the \* Mergeformat switch? Do you find one? If not, then you need to add this at the end of the form field in order to force Word to retain any formatting you've applied to the table. I'm sure the number you ask about is related to the list in the AutoFormat dialog box, but I wouldn't swear to it being the 28th (or maybe 29th) entry in the list. I'm inclined to say yes, but I'd actually have to take the time (which I currently don't have) to test this extensively before I'd say that :-) Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) 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 :-) |
#6
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Hi ?B?RGFuQg==?=,
I added the \*MERGEFORMAT command and my results now look better but not perfect. I'm also using the WHERE (X = Y) command and as long as only one record from my external database "matches" and is imported per mail-merge document, the formatting is fine. All subsequent matches per document, however, revert back to a format where all 3 columns in the table are the same width. In that case, you may have no choice than to use a macro to reset the column widths after the merge has completed to a new document. Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) 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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