[brodiemac]

I am doing a small mail merge using a word doc and an excel spreadsheet as my
data source. The first and last names are separate columns in the
spreadsheet. When I create the address block, it properly aligns the first
and last name. When I try to to the greeting line, I specify the foramt as
Dear Mr. 'Lastname' but word refuses to just use the last name. It will
constantly overwrite it with first and last name. I don't understand why
when the data fields for first and last name are separate. Any help please?

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If you press Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of the field codes in the
mailmerge main document, what do you see?

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
I am doing a small mail merge using a word doc and an excel spreadsheet as
my
data source. The first and last names are separate columns in the
spreadsheet. When I create the address block, it properly aligns the
first
and last name. When I try to to the greeting line, I specify the foramt
as
Dear Mr. 'Lastname' but word refuses to just use the last name. It will
constantly overwrite it with first and last name. I don't understand why
when the data fields for first and last name are separate. Any help
please?

[brodiemac]

{GREETINGLINE\f"BEFORE_DearTITLE0__LAST_ _AFTER_,"\1 1033 \e
Dear Sir or Madam,"}

I would assume I just remove the _LAST_ to fix it? Question is, why is
it putting it in there in the first place. Also, when I choose to use just
the last name and not the first, it works fine. I think maybe something that
needs to be fixed by MS?

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

If you press Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of the field codes in the
mailmerge main document, what do you see?

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
I am doing a small mail merge using a word doc and an excel spreadsheet as
my
data source. The first and last names are separate columns in the
spreadsheet. When I create the address block, it properly aligns the
first
and last name. When I try to to the greeting line, I specify the foramt
as
Dear Mr. 'Lastname' but word refuses to just use the last name. It will
constantly overwrite it with first and last name. I don't understand why
when the data fields for first and last name are separate. Any help
please?

[brodiemac]

Strike my comment about remove the "_LAST_" from there.

"brodiemac" wrote:

{GREETINGLINE\f"BEFORE_DearTITLE0__LAST_ _AFTER_,"\1 1033 \e
Dear Sir or Madam,"}

I would assume I just remove the _LAST_ to fix it? Question is, why is
it putting it in there in the first place. Also, when I choose to use just
the last name and not the first, it works fine. I think maybe something that
needs to be fixed by MS?

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

If you press Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of the field codes in the
mailmerge main document, what do you see?

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
I am doing a small mail merge using a word doc and an excel spreadsheet as
my
data source. The first and last names are separate columns in the
spreadsheet. When I create the address block, it properly aligns the
first
and last name. When I try to to the greeting line, I specify the foramt
as
Dear Mr. 'Lastname' but word refuses to just use the last name. It will
constantly overwrite it with first and last name. I don't understand why
when the data fields for first and last name are separate. Any help
please?

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Don't use the GREETING LINE thing, or the ADDRESSBLOCK for that matter.
Just insert the merge fields that YOU want in the configuration that YOU
want them.

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
Strike my comment about remove the "_LAST_" from there.

"brodiemac" wrote:

{GREETINGLINE\f"BEFORE_DearTITLE0__LAST_ _AFTER_,"\1 1033
\e
Dear Sir or Madam,"}

I would assume I just remove the _LAST_ to fix it? Question is, why
is
it putting it in there in the first place. Also, when I choose to use
just
the last name and not the first, it works fine. I think maybe something
that
needs to be fixed by MS?

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

If you press Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of the field codes in the
mailmerge main document, what do you see?

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
I am doing a small mail merge using a word doc and an excel
spreadsheet as
my
data source. The first and last names are separate columns in the
spreadsheet. When I create the address block, it properly aligns the
first
and last name. When I try to to the greeting line, I specify the
foramt
as
Dear Mr. 'Lastname' but word refuses to just use the last name. It
will
constantly overwrite it with first and last name. I don't understand
why
when the data fields for first and last name are separate. Any help
please?

[brodiemac]

Doesn't make much sense not to use a feature Microsoft inteneded to make life
easier but anyway....

The reason why it is not working is because word had no way of determining
if the addressee was a Mr. or a Mrs. Once I added a field for Gender and
matched it to the Courtesy Title, it worked just fine. Thanks for the help!

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

Don't use the GREETING LINE thing, or the ADDRESSBLOCK for that matter.
Just insert the merge fields that YOU want in the configuration that YOU
want them.

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
Strike my comment about remove the "_LAST_" from there.

"brodiemac" wrote:

{GREETINGLINE\f"BEFORE_DearTITLE0__LAST_ _AFTER_,"\1 1033
\e
Dear Sir or Madam,"}

I would assume I just remove the _LAST_ to fix it? Question is, why
is
it putting it in there in the first place. Also, when I choose to use
just
the last name and not the first, it works fine. I think maybe something
that
needs to be fixed by MS?

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

If you press Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of the field codes in the
mailmerge main document, what do you see?

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
I am doing a small mail merge using a word doc and an excel
spreadsheet as
my
data source. The first and last names are separate columns in the
spreadsheet. When I create the address block, it properly aligns the
first
and last name. When I try to to the greeting line, I specify the
foramt
as
Dear Mr. 'Lastname' but word refuses to just use the last name. It
will
constantly overwrite it with first and last name. I don't understand
why
when the data fields for first and last name are separate. Any help
please?

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You will find the recommendation not to use the AddressBlock is given very
frequently in this newsgroup.

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
Doesn't make much sense not to use a feature Microsoft inteneded to make
life
easier but anyway....

The reason why it is not working is because word had no way of determining
if the addressee was a Mr. or a Mrs. Once I added a field for Gender and
matched it to the Courtesy Title, it worked just fine. Thanks for the
help!

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

Don't use the GREETING LINE thing, or the ADDRESSBLOCK for that matter.
Just insert the merge fields that YOU want in the configuration that YOU
want them.

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
Strike my comment about remove the "_LAST_" from there.

"brodiemac" wrote:

{GREETINGLINE\f"BEFORE_DearTITLE0__LAST_ _AFTER_,"\1
1033
\e
Dear Sir or Madam,"}

I would assume I just remove the _LAST_ to fix it? Question is,
why
is
it putting it in there in the first place. Also, when I choose to use
just
the last name and not the first, it works fine. I think maybe
something
that
needs to be fixed by MS?

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

If you press Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of the field codes in
the
mailmerge main document, what do you see?

--
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

"brodiemac" wrote in message
...
I am doing a small mail merge using a word doc and an excel
spreadsheet as
my
data source. The first and last names are separate columns in the
spreadsheet. When I create the address block, it properly aligns
the
first
and last name. When I try to to the greeting line, I specify the
foramt
as
Dear Mr. 'Lastname' but word refuses to just use the last name.
It
will
constantly overwrite it with first and last name. I don't
understand
why
when the data fields for first and last name are separate. Any
help
please?