[Gnibtay]

Please Help if you can. I have lost about 10 hours editing a Mail Merge
Master document, only to find none of the changes are saved when you reopen.
Here's what happened: My document is a Master Form of legal document. I
merge the fields from a single client record into it, which inserts all the
client-specific data into the document. My Fields have changed, so I wanted
to edit the fields in my Master. I want to search for the {OLD-FIELD} and
replace it with the {NEW FIELD}. Word does not seem to allow me to do this.
First, it will not let me cut and paste the fields into the Search & Replace
Box. Secondlly, after hours of laboriously replacing my Fields one at a
time, and dutifully saving, NONE of the changes were saved. The changes are
all shown in the document while I'm editing it. Then I save & close the
edited document. When I re-open it it reverts to the original. None of the
changes have been saved! I have tested this a number of times. It is not my
error or my imagination. For some reason the Mail Merge document does not
save changes to the Fields. FYI, The document is NOT protected either. Any
thoughts? I am at my wits' end. Thank you.

[Gnibtay]

I'm using Word 2003 BTW

"Gnibtay" wrote:

Please Help if you can. I have lost about 10 hours editing a Mail Merge
Master document, only to find none of the changes are saved when you reopen.
Here's what happened: My document is a Master Form of legal document. I
merge the fields from a single client record into it, which inserts all the
client-specific data into the document. My Fields have changed, so I wanted
to edit the fields in my Master. I want to search for the {OLD-FIELD} and
replace it with the {NEW FIELD}. Word does not seem to allow me to do this.
First, it will not let me cut and paste the fields into the Search & Replace
Box. Secondlly, after hours of laboriously replacing my Fields one at a
time, and dutifully saving, NONE of the changes were saved. The changes are
all shown in the document while I'm editing it. Then I save & close the
edited document. When I re-open it it reverts to the original. None of the
changes have been saved! I have tested this a number of times. It is not my
error or my imagination. For some reason the Mail Merge document does not
save changes to the Fields. FYI, The document is NOT protected either. Any
thoughts? I am at my wits' end. Thank you.

[Graham Mayor]

If you display the field codes - ALT+F9 - so instead of viewing
OLD-FIELD you see { MERGEFIELD OLD-FIELD } you can run Search and
Replace on the content ie you coulkd search for OLD-FIELD replace with "NEW
FIELD" (the quotes are essential if you have spaces in the field names -
better to avoid the spaces! I take it that you detached the old data source
(Set the document type to normal Word document from the mail merge toolbar)
before trying to add fields that didn't exist in the current data source?

On reflection if you attach a data source to one with different field names,
the attachment process should prompt for you to remap the fields from the
new data source. It shouldn't be necessary to manually modify the merge
document ?

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




"Gnibtay" wrote in message
...
Please Help if you can. I have lost about 10 hours editing a Mail Merge
Master document, only to find none of the changes are saved when you
reopen.
Here's what happened: My document is a Master Form of legal document. I
merge the fields from a single client record into it, which inserts all
the
client-specific data into the document. My Fields have changed, so I
wanted
to edit the fields in my Master. I want to search for the {OLD-FIELD} and
replace it with the {NEW FIELD}. Word does not seem to allow me to do
this.
First, it will not let me cut and paste the fields into the Search &
Replace
Box. Secondlly, after hours of laboriously replacing my Fields one at a
time, and dutifully saving, NONE of the changes were saved. The changes
are
all shown in the document while I'm editing it. Then I save & close the
edited document. When I re-open it it reverts to the original. None of
the
changes have been saved! I have tested this a number of times. It is not
my
error or my imagination. For some reason the Mail Merge document does not
save changes to the Fields. FYI, The document is NOT protected either.
Any
thoughts? I am at my wits' end. Thank you.

[Gnibtay]

OK that's a start - we're getting warmer. I was able to solve the cut &
paste but it's still not saving the changes - same symptoms: it takes all the
changes, displays them, lets me save with no error message. Then when I
close & reopen they are gone. I'm suspecting it has something to do with the
attachment to the database. I tried to work on this at home on my laptop &
so in the course of opening the document it couldn't find the database. I
eventually found the path and connected it. Then it went through the
remapping routine you mentioned. I had high hopes for this, but the
remapping then went on for ever, seemed to be stuck in a glitch, where it
repeatedly asked for the same fields even though I replaced them. then the
net result of the remap was a blank document with only error messages. As
further information, I should also mention that my original document was a
WordPerfect document converted to Word. The WP document had no Merge fields,
it had my personal code words that I searched and replaced for in a primitive
version of mail merge. The mail merge was supposed to be an upgrade to this.
My data comes from a Contact Manager program called Time Matters version 10.
I got some of the code words replaced with Data Fields, but then when I
needed to switch the data fields, I ran into this non-saving problem. Your
prior answer was greatly helpful, if you are able to provide further
assistance I will be extremely appreciative.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

If you display the field codes - ALT+F9 - so instead of viewing
OLD-FIELD you see { MERGEFIELD OLD-FIELD } you can run Search and
Replace on the content ie you coulkd search for OLD-FIELD replace with "NEW
FIELD" (the quotes are essential if you have spaces in the field names -
better to avoid the spaces! I take it that you detached the old data source
(Set the document type to normal Word document from the mail merge toolbar)
before trying to add fields that didn't exist in the current data source?

On reflection if you attach a data source to one with different field names,
the attachment process should prompt for you to remap the fields from the
new data source. It shouldn't be necessary to manually modify the merge
document ?

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




"Gnibtay" wrote in message
...
Please Help if you can. I have lost about 10 hours editing a Mail Merge
Master document, only to find none of the changes are saved when you
reopen.
Here's what happened: My document is a Master Form of legal document. I
merge the fields from a single client record into it, which inserts all
the
client-specific data into the document. My Fields have changed, so I
wanted
to edit the fields in my Master. I want to search for the {OLD-FIELD} and
replace it with the {NEW FIELD}. Word does not seem to allow me to do
this.
First, it will not let me cut and paste the fields into the Search &
Replace
Box. Secondlly, after hours of laboriously replacing my Fields one at a
time, and dutifully saving, NONE of the changes were saved. The changes
are
all shown in the document while I'm editing it. Then I save & close the
edited document. When I re-open it it reverts to the original. None of
the
changes have been saved! I have tested this a number of times. It is not
my
error or my imagination. For some reason the Mail Merge document does not
save changes to the Fields. FYI, The document is NOT protected either.
Any
thoughts? I am at my wits' end. Thank you.


.

[Graham Mayor]

If you detach the data source, the document becomes a normal Word document.
ALT+F9 will display the fields in the document, and you should be able to
edit them as required. Can you save as a new document?

If you still have problems, send a copy of the document (and a list of the
required field names) to the link on the home page of my web site and I will
see if I can spot the problem.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



"Gnibtay" wrote in message
...
OK that's a start - we're getting warmer. I was able to solve the cut &
paste but it's still not saving the changes - same symptoms: it takes all
the
changes, displays them, lets me save with no error message. Then when I
close & reopen they are gone. I'm suspecting it has something to do with
the
attachment to the database. I tried to work on this at home on my laptop
&
so in the course of opening the document it couldn't find the database. I
eventually found the path and connected it. Then it went through the
remapping routine you mentioned. I had high hopes for this, but the
remapping then went on for ever, seemed to be stuck in a glitch, where
it
repeatedly asked for the same fields even though I replaced them. then
the
net result of the remap was a blank document with only error messages. As
further information, I should also mention that my original document was a
WordPerfect document converted to Word. The WP document had no Merge
fields,
it had my personal code words that I searched and replaced for in a
primitive
version of mail merge. The mail merge was supposed to be an upgrade to
this.
My data comes from a Contact Manager program called Time Matters version
10.
I got some of the code words replaced with Data Fields, but then when I
needed to switch the data fields, I ran into this non-saving problem.
Your
prior answer was greatly helpful, if you are able to provide further
assistance I will be extremely appreciative.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

If you display the field codes - ALT+F9 - so instead of viewing
OLD-FIELD you see { MERGEFIELD OLD-FIELD } you can run Search and
Replace on the content ie you coulkd search for OLD-FIELD replace with
"NEW
FIELD" (the quotes are essential if you have spaces in the field names -
better to avoid the spaces! I take it that you detached the old data
source
(Set the document type to normal Word document from the mail merge
toolbar)
before trying to add fields that didn't exist in the current data source?

On reflection if you attach a data source to one with different field
names,
the attachment process should prompt for you to remap the fields from the
new data source. It shouldn't be necessary to manually modify the merge
document ?

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




"Gnibtay" wrote in message
...
Please Help if you can. I have lost about 10 hours editing a Mail
Merge
Master document, only to find none of the changes are saved when you
reopen.
Here's what happened: My document is a Master Form of legal document.
I
merge the fields from a single client record into it, which inserts all
the
client-specific data into the document. My Fields have changed, so I
wanted
to edit the fields in my Master. I want to search for the {OLD-FIELD}
and
replace it with the {NEW FIELD}. Word does not seem to allow me to do
this.
First, it will not let me cut and paste the fields into the Search &
Replace
Box. Secondlly, after hours of laboriously replacing my Fields one at
a
time, and dutifully saving, NONE of the changes were saved. The
changes
are
all shown in the document while I'm editing it. Then I save & close
the
edited document. When I re-open it it reverts to the original. None
of
the
changes have been saved! I have tested this a number of times. It is
not
my
error or my imagination. For some reason the Mail Merge document does
not
save changes to the Fields. FYI, The document is NOT protected either.
Any
thoughts? I am at my wits' end. Thank you.


.