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#1
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
I want to merge some data into a document with 3 columns (see my filoFax
question earlier today). Unlike labels, the data is variable length, so I need to find a way of flowing the text with a blank line, see below: Adams: Brian Arkwright: Paul Blackstone: Tom Tel: 01234 45679 Tel: 01234 45679 Mob: 07770 12345 Mob: 07770 12345 Fax: 01234 15643 Austin: Mini Tel: 01234 45679 Alundu: Josh Mob: 07770 12344 Tel: 01234 45676 Mob: 07770 12346 Bateman: David Mob: 07770 12344 .... ... ... I also want to suppress lines with no data, and insert the Tel: or Mob: etc on lines which have data. Any ideas? |
#2
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
Use a Directory, (or Catalog in versions before Word XP) type mail merge
main document with a one row three column table in it and insert the mergefields into the cells of that table. -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Nigel Molesworth" wrote in message ... I want to merge some data into a document with 3 columns (see my filoFax question earlier today). Unlike labels, the data is variable length, so I need to find a way of flowing the text with a blank line, see below: Adams: Brian Arkwright: Paul Blackstone: Tom Tel: 01234 45679 Tel: 01234 45679 Mob: 07770 12345 Mob: 07770 12345 Fax: 01234 15643 Austin: Mini Tel: 01234 45679 Alundu: Josh Mob: 07770 12344 Tel: 01234 45676 Mob: 07770 12346 Bateman: David Mob: 07770 12344 ... ... ... I also want to suppress lines with no data, and insert the Tel: or Mob: etc on lines which have data. Any ideas? |
#3
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:25:10 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP"
wrote: Use a Directory, (or Catalog in versions before Word XP) type mail merge main document with a one row three column table in it and insert the mergefields into the cells of that table. OK, I'm getting somewhere - I think. The following adds the text "Tel:" and the phone number for records with a phone number, but I can only check this by manually going to the next record in the Preview group on the ribbon. Despite the Next Record it will only insert a single entry, not the whole database. Surname: HisName [CR] {IF {MERGEFIELD TEL}"" "Tel:" ""}Tel [CR] Next Record |
#4
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
Sounds like you are trying to perform a "multiple items per condition (=key
field)" mailmerge which Word does not really have the ability to do: See the "Group Multiple items for a single condition" item on fellow MVP Cindy Meister's website at http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindy...faq1.htm#DBPic Or take a look at the following Knowledge Base Article http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;211303 or at: http://cornell.veplan.net/article.aspx?&a=3815 -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Nigel Molesworth" wrote in message news On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:25:10 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: Use a Directory, (or Catalog in versions before Word XP) type mail merge main document with a one row three column table in it and insert the mergefields into the cells of that table. OK, I'm getting somewhere - I think. The following adds the text "Tel:" and the phone number for records with a phone number, but I can only check this by manually going to the next record in the Preview group on the ribbon. Despite the Next Record it will only insert a single entry, not the whole database. Surname: HisName [CR] {IF {MERGEFIELD TEL}"" "Tel:" ""}Tel [CR] Next Record |
#5
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:03:33 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP"
wrote: Sounds like you are trying to perform a "multiple items per condition (=key field)" mailmerge which Word does not really have the ability to do: Not really, I'm just limiting the output to the non-bland fields. I think that aspect may be sorted, so I'll ignore it for now. My main problem is getting more than one *record* to be processed. If I was doing labels, it's easy: I'd just put the following in each table cell: Surname: HisName [CR] Tel [CR] Next Record But here the problem if different. I don't know how many records I will have in a given column (or on a given page) because the data in the records is not all the same length (e.g. some don't have cell phone numbers). It is, as you say, a directory. I'm trying to replicate the phone book! |
#6
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
You need to use an If...Then...Else field construction so that your set up
in the catalog or directory mail merge main document looks like { MERGEFIELD Surname } { MERGEFIELD HisName } [CR] { IF { MERGEFIELD Cell } "" "{ MERGEFIELD Tel } [CR] { MERGEFIELD Cell }" "{ MERGEFIELD Tel }" } and so on for you other fields that may or may not contain data. You do not need a Next Record field. -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Nigel Molesworth" wrote in message ... On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:03:33 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: Sounds like you are trying to perform a "multiple items per condition (=key field)" mailmerge which Word does not really have the ability to do: Not really, I'm just limiting the output to the non-bland fields. I think that aspect may be sorted, so I'll ignore it for now. My main problem is getting more than one *record* to be processed. If I was doing labels, it's easy: I'd just put the following in each table cell: Surname: HisName [CR] Tel [CR] Next Record But here the problem if different. I don't know how many records I will have in a given column (or on a given page) because the data in the records is not all the same length (e.g. some don't have cell phone numbers). It is, as you say, a directory. I'm trying to replicate the phone book! |
#7
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:00:38 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP"
wrote: You do not need a Next Record field. Now I'm confused! I think I may have overcomplicated my question. Can we skip the issue of possibly blank fields, and discuss how to do a mail merge into a (3 column) page with the following data, each record to go on a new line (inserted by the merge master document). Record 1 | Field 1: "A short bit of text" Record 2 | Field 1: "This is a long bit of text - Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Cras ultricies sem et nisl. Pellentesque in erat at justo venenatis convallis. Phasellus imperdiet, risus id vehicula commodo, nulla leo cursus nisi, eu congue diam lorem a purus." Record 3 | Field 1: "Another short bit of text" Record 4 | Field 1: etc .... With data of a fixed maximum length, fitting into cells in a table (for example to create labels) there is no problem. You just have Next Record in each cell. There are a fixed number of records per page, for example 14, 18, or 21, corresponding to the labels. The problem I'm trying to solve is that the data I'm using is not going into fixed cells, so I don't know how to "get" the next record, and I don't know how many records there are per page or per column. |
#8
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
It sounds to me as if you need to do a Catalog/Directory-type merge into a
multi-column page. No «Next Record» field is required in this type of merge; Word gets it automatically. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Nigel Molesworth" wrote in message ... On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:00:38 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: You do not need a Next Record field. Now I'm confused! I think I may have overcomplicated my question. Can we skip the issue of possibly blank fields, and discuss how to do a merge into a (3 column) page with the following data, each record to go on a new line (inserted by the merge master document). Record 1 | Field 1: "A short bit of text" Record 2 | Field 1: "This is a long bit of text - Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Cras ultricies sem et nisl. Pellentesque in erat at justo venenatis convallis. Phasellus imperdiet, risus id vehicula commodo, nulla leo cursus nisi, eu congue diam lorem a purus." Record 3 | Field 1: "Another short bit of text" Record 4 | Field 1: etc .... With data of a fixed maximum length, fitting into cells in a table (for example to create labels) there is no problem. You just have Next Record in each cell. There are a fixed number of records per page, for example 14, 18, or 21, corresponding to the labels. The problem I'm trying to solve is that the data I'm using is not going into fixed cells, so I don't know how to "get" the next record, and I don't know how many records there are per page or per column. |
#9
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:37:55 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill"
wrote: It sounds to me as if you need to do a Catalog/Directory-type merge into a multi-column page. I'm using a table to give me control of the exact size, should this work? No «Next Record» field is required in this type of merge; Word gets it automatically. OK, I've just done a test. My only text in the merge document is: Surname [^l] Tel [^p] Is this what you mean? Because this code only inserts the first record in the database, although I can scroll through them all with the Next Record in the Preview group on the ribbon (so the source is OK). |
#10
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
I believe you need to have an empty paragraph after the paragraph you
entered. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Nigel Molesworth" wrote in message ... On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:37:55 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: It sounds to me as if you need to do a Catalog/Directory-type merge into a multi-column page. I'm using a table to give me control of the exact size, should this work? No «Next Record» field is required in this type of merge; Word gets it automatically. OK, I've just done a test. My only text in the merge document is: Surname [^l] Tel [^p] Is this what you mean? Because this code only inserts the first record in the database, although I can scroll through them all with the Next Record in the Preview group on the ribbon (so the source is OK). |
#11
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:53:17 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill"
wrote: you need to have an empty paragraph after the paragraph you entered. Hey, it works! Thanks Suzanne. WYMM? |
#12
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Mail merge into columns with variable length data?
Already taken, thanks. g
-- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Nigel Molesworth" wrote in message ... On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:53:17 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: you need to have an empty paragraph after the paragraph you entered. Hey, it works! Thanks Suzanne. WYMM? |
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