We use Word 2002 and create standard office and client correspondence forms
for each project, job, client. etc. And the process of setting up .dot
files for every form we use on a job is tedious, and I want to find a way to
automate this if possible, i.e. enter it in one place and have the other
documents pull the info from the fields where the info has been entered
entered.

We insert mulitple lines of project specific information in the Header,
Footer and in a tables that are in the the body of documents found on every
piece of correspondence that we issue for a project. So when setting up a
new job we have an employee go in and edit our standard .dot file to make a
project specific .dot file that is then opened and used to create the
documents for the necessary project correpondence. The problem is that we
use about 20 forms currently and are developing more as we need them so each
on has to be opened, unprotected, the info copied or typed into the
appropriate locations, the form protected again, then saved as a .dot file
for users to begin using. Setting up a job takes a while even using copy
paste, I want to help our business manager out who is usually asked to do
this task, as she has other more important responsibilities like (payroll,
billing and accounting) other than "data entry".

Is there some way we can enter all the info in once in a "master" specific
project information word docment that then is referenced using fields or ODBC
or something from every other document, or put another way can the individual
documents "farm" data from the master .dot file containing all the project's
information?

It seems like everytime I post a question here I get great and knowledgable
replies for the most part so I am sure this can be done, however I am afraid
it may be outside my abilities, possibly using VBA or some other code writing
which I am not skilled in.

Any help would be appreciated, but if there is a way to do it without VBA
that would be ideal.

Thank you.

David

Yes. This is possible, but it isn't easy.

Some preliminary questions.
Once a _document_ is created and saved, do you want the document to update
with the new information next time it is opened?. (I am an attorney, so my
answer to this in "no." I want a new document created from one of my form
templates to have the new info; I want historical documents to be the way
they were when the document was created.)

Are you comfortable with using AutoText?
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.


"DBD" wrote in message
...
We use Word 2002 and create standard office and client correspondence
forms
for each project, job, client. etc. And the process of setting up .dot
files for every form we use on a job is tedious, and I want to find a way
to
automate this if possible, i.e. enter it in one place and have the other
documents pull the info from the fields where the info has been entered
entered.

We insert mulitple lines of project specific information in the Header,
Footer and in a tables that are in the the body of documents found on
every
piece of correspondence that we issue for a project. So when setting up a
new job we have an employee go in and edit our standard .dot file to make
a
project specific .dot file that is then opened and used to create the
documents for the necessary project correpondence. The problem is that we
use about 20 forms currently and are developing more as we need them so
each
on has to be opened, unprotected, the info copied or typed into the
appropriate locations, the form protected again, then saved as a .dot file
for users to begin using. Setting up a job takes a while even using copy
paste, I want to help our business manager out who is usually asked to do
this task, as she has other more important responsibilities like (payroll,
billing and accounting) other than "data entry".

Is there some way we can enter all the info in once in a "master" specific
project information word docment that then is referenced using fields or
ODBC
or something from every other document, or put another way can the
individual
documents "farm" data from the master .dot file containing all the
project's
information?

It seems like everytime I post a question here I get great and
knowledgable
replies for the most part so I am sure this can be done, however I am
afraid
it may be outside my abilities, possibly using VBA or some other code
writing
which I am not skilled in.

Any help would be appreciated, but if there is a way to do it without VBA
that would be ideal.

Thank you.

David

My first reaction to your problem was to set up an Access database where you
could enter the project specific information. Then use this to generate the
forms or templates that you're currently creating by hand.

My next thought was to try using Mail Merge in some form. This is basically
a database connection without trying to learn Access. Access isn't that hard,
but can seem daunting if you haven't used it before.

Unfortunately the more I thought about how to implement a solution to your
problem the more I came back to VBA. I've used VBA for the past 5 years, and
have found it to be extremely helpful in creating automation tools within all
of the Office applications.

Since you have posted previously to this discussion group, I suspect you
have heard VBA as a solution before. And yes, I did see that you would like
to avoid it.

Let me try to offer some words which may have you reconsider this constraint
to the problem. Have you ever used macros in Word before?

When I teach other people about VBA, I always start them with Word Macros.
Try the following when you go to update one of your templates.
Open the source template (the one you're going to copy from and edit)
Select Tools - Macro - Record New Macro
(For this first macro, just accept the name. You can enter your one name,
but without spaces.)
Select [OK]

You'll see a new toolbar with a Stop icon and a Pause icon. Right now the
computer is learning to do all of the things you're doing. You may find some
of the capabilities non-functional. You may have to use the arrow keys to
move the insertion point or select commands from the menus. Don't worry about
making mistakes. Just correct them and move on. Yes, Word will record your
mistakes, but when you replay them it will happen so fast you won't notice
them.

After you have made some of the changes, like Save As and re-typing some
values, select the Stop icon. Now your macro is saved

If you want to see what your macro will do, select Tools - Macro - Macros...
You'll see a dialog box appear and in the list will be Macro1 (or whatever
you named it)

You can select it and Run it.

You'll see an exact playback of the macro. You may get prompts about
overwriting files that exist.

If you craft your macros well (which only comes with practice) you can
create some useful tools and not write a line of VBA.

However to get the sort of variability that you're looking for, I think you
may have to dive a bit further. But that is okay. You're well on your way.

Go back to the Macros dialog box. (Tools - Macro - Macros...) Now select
your macro and select Edit. A whole new program will open up (Visual Basic
Editor). You'll see ith the main window to the right the Visual Basic that
Word used to record your macro. Print a copy of this out. Now look through
it. Much of the specific words won't make sense. This is the syntax of VBA.
However, since you built the macro, you already know what it should do. You
will start to be able to see the VBA commands for the different things you
did to record your macro.

I'm afraid I may have lost you at this point. If you want to learn more
about this, post a reply and we can explore your specific problem in more
depth.
--
Jack Rumple


"DBD" wrote:

We use Word 2002 and create standard office and client correspondence forms
for each project, job, client. etc. And the process of setting up .dot
files for every form we use on a job is tedious, and I want to find a way to
automate this if possible, i.e. enter it in one place and have the other
documents pull the info from the fields where the info has been entered
entered.

We insert mulitple lines of project specific information in the Header,
Footer and in a tables that are in the the body of documents found on every
piece of correspondence that we issue for a project. So when setting up a
new job we have an employee go in and edit our standard .dot file to make a
project specific .dot file that is then opened and used to create the
documents for the necessary project correpondence. The problem is that we
use about 20 forms currently and are developing more as we need them so each
on has to be opened, unprotected, the info copied or typed into the
appropriate locations, the form protected again, then saved as a .dot file
for users to begin using. Setting up a job takes a while even using copy
paste, I want to help our business manager out who is usually asked to do
this task, as she has other more important responsibilities like (payroll,
billing and accounting) other than "data entry".

Is there some way we can enter all the info in once in a "master" specific
project information word docment that then is referenced using fields or ODBC
or something from every other document, or put another way can the individual
documents "farm" data from the master .dot file containing all the project's
information?

It seems like everytime I post a question here I get great and knowledgable
replies for the most part so I am sure this can be done, however I am afraid
it may be outside my abilities, possibly using VBA or some other code writing
which I am not skilled in.

Any help would be appreciated, but if there is a way to do it without VBA
that would be ideal.

Thank you.

David

On second review, I agree with Jack that what you are looking for is
mailmerge. If you have only a small amount of information per client, you
could use a Word document as your data source. For up to 256 (I think) you
could use an Excel spreadsheet.
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/...AMailMerge.htm
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/...DataSource.htm
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Mailmerge.htm
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

"DBD" wrote in message
...
We use Word 2002 and create standard office and client correspondence
forms
for each project, job, client. etc. And the process of setting up .dot
files for every form we use on a job is tedious, and I want to find a way
to
automate this if possible, i.e. enter it in one place and have the other
documents pull the info from the fields where the info has been entered
entered.

We insert mulitple lines of project specific information in the Header,
Footer and in a tables that are in the the body of documents found on
every
piece of correspondence that we issue for a project. So when setting up a
new job we have an employee go in and edit our standard .dot file to make
a
project specific .dot file that is then opened and used to create the
documents for the necessary project correpondence. The problem is that we
use about 20 forms currently and are developing more as we need them so
each
on has to be opened, unprotected, the info copied or typed into the
appropriate locations, the form protected again, then saved as a .dot file
for users to begin using. Setting up a job takes a while even using copy
paste, I want to help our business manager out who is usually asked to do
this task, as she has other more important responsibilities like (payroll,
billing and accounting) other than "data entry".

Is there some way we can enter all the info in once in a "master" specific
project information word docment that then is referenced using fields or
ODBC
or something from every other document, or put another way can the
individual
documents "farm" data from the master .dot file containing all the
project's
information?

It seems like everytime I post a question here I get great and
knowledgable
replies for the most part so I am sure this can be done, however I am
afraid
it may be outside my abilities, possibly using VBA or some other code
writing
which I am not skilled in.

Any help would be appreciated, but if there is a way to do it without VBA
that would be ideal.

Thank you.

David

Jack,

Thank you for your very thorough response, the suggestions you make are
somewhat familiar however they have exceeded my current comfort level. But
this is good. I enjoy learning more about the ways macros and VBA can help
me especially by automating tedious tasks. Im going to play around with
this and see what kind of results I get.

I really appreciate your response. Ill try to reply to or in this thread
again to let you know what type of issues I am having, it may not be today
and probably not until next week sometime when I have time to really do this,
so if you dont mind subscribe to the thread so you can see when I post
again.

Thank you & Best Regards.

David


"Jack" wrote:

My first reaction to your problem was to set up an Access database where you
could enter the project specific information. Then use this to generate the
forms or templates that you're currently creating by hand.

My next thought was to try using Mail Merge in some form. This is basically
a database connection without trying to learn Access. Access isn't that hard,
but can seem daunting if you haven't used it before.

Unfortunately the more I thought about how to implement a solution to your
problem the more I came back to VBA. I've used VBA for the past 5 years, and
have found it to be extremely helpful in creating automation tools within all
of the Office applications.

Since you have posted previously to this discussion group, I suspect you
have heard VBA as a solution before. And yes, I did see that you would like
to avoid it.

Let me try to offer some words which may have you reconsider this constraint
to the problem. Have you ever used macros in Word before?

When I teach other people about VBA, I always start them with Word Macros.
Try the following when you go to update one of your templates.
Open the source template (the one you're going to copy from and edit)
Select Tools - Macro - Record New Macro
(For this first macro, just accept the name. You can enter your one name,
but without spaces.)
Select [OK]

You'll see a new toolbar with a Stop icon and a Pause icon. Right now the
computer is learning to do all of the things you're doing. You may find some
of the capabilities non-functional. You may have to use the arrow keys to
move the insertion point or select commands from the menus. Don't worry about
making mistakes. Just correct them and move on. Yes, Word will record your
mistakes, but when you replay them it will happen so fast you won't notice
them.

After you have made some of the changes, like Save As and re-typing some
values, select the Stop icon. Now your macro is saved

If you want to see what your macro will do, select Tools - Macro - Macros...
You'll see a dialog box appear and in the list will be Macro1 (or whatever
you named it)

You can select it and Run it.

You'll see an exact playback of the macro. You may get prompts about
overwriting files that exist.

If you craft your macros well (which only comes with practice) you can
create some useful tools and not write a line of VBA.

However to get the sort of variability that you're looking for, I think you
may have to dive a bit further. But that is okay. You're well on your way.

Go back to the Macros dialog box. (Tools - Macro - Macros...) Now select
your macro and select Edit. A whole new program will open up (Visual Basic
Editor). You'll see ith the main window to the right the Visual Basic that
Word used to record your macro. Print a copy of this out. Now look through
it. Much of the specific words won't make sense. This is the syntax of VBA.
However, since you built the macro, you already know what it should do. You
will start to be able to see the VBA commands for the different things you
did to record your macro.

I'm afraid I may have lost you at this point. If you want to learn more
about this, post a reply and we can explore your specific problem in more
depth.
--
Jack Rumple


"DBD" wrote:

We use Word 2002 and create standard office and client correspondence forms
for each project, job, client. etc. And the process of setting up .dot
files for every form we use on a job is tedious, and I want to find a way to
automate this if possible, i.e. enter it in one place and have the other
documents pull the info from the fields where the info has been entered
entered.

We insert mulitple lines of project specific information in the Header,
Footer and in a tables that are in the the body of documents found on every
piece of correspondence that we issue for a project. So when setting up a
new job we have an employee go in and edit our standard .dot file to make a
project specific .dot file that is then opened and used to create the
documents for the necessary project correpondence. The problem is that we
use about 20 forms currently and are developing more as we need them so each
on has to be opened, unprotected, the info copied or typed into the
appropriate locations, the form protected again, then saved as a .dot file
for users to begin using. Setting up a job takes a while even using copy
paste, I want to help our business manager out who is usually asked to do
this task, as she has other more important responsibilities like (payroll,
billing and accounting) other than "data entry".

Is there some way we can enter all the info in once in a "master" specific
project information word docment that then is referenced using fields or ODBC
or something from every other document, or put another way can the individual
documents "farm" data from the master .dot file containing all the project's
information?

It seems like everytime I post a question here I get great and knowledgable
replies for the most part so I am sure this can be done, however I am afraid
it may be outside my abilities, possibly using VBA or some other code writing
which I am not skilled in.

Any help would be appreciated, but if there is a way to do it without VBA
that would be ideal.

Thank you.

David

Charles,

I really appreciate your thoughts on my post. In answer to your question, I
think the best thing would be for the document to remain as it were when
created. Although the info we put in and I want to be pulled from a "master"
location or file is not something that changes. Our headers have the client
name, project name, and project location. the tables that I would also want
to be distributed or pulled from the master have more client info that
usually doesnt change, and finally the footer has our assigned job number
so I am not talking about a whole lot of information, it is just tedious when
setting up jobs for the first time as each .dot file will have to be opened
and edited and then re-saved.


After reading both of yours and Jack's I will be taking some time to begin
researching the info you provided and attempting to learn about these
features, but I must admit that they are pushing my envelope of comfort,
however this is a good thing... never stop learning. Like I told Jack if you
dont mind subscribing to this thread as it may be a day or so before I get
time to play with this, and I would really appreciate your additional
comments when I have questions.

Thanks again and Best Regards.

David


"Charles Kenyon" wrote:

Yes. This is possible, but it isn't easy.

Some preliminary questions.
Once a _document_ is created and saved, do you want the document to update
with the new information next time it is opened?. (I am an attorney, so my
answer to this in "no." I want a new document created from one of my form
templates to have the new info; I want historical documents to be the way
they were when the document was created.)

Are you comfortable with using AutoText?
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.


"DBD" wrote in message
...
We use Word 2002 and create standard office and client correspondence
forms
for each project, job, client. etc. And the process of setting up .dot
files for every form we use on a job is tedious, and I want to find a way
to
automate this if possible, i.e. enter it in one place and have the other
documents pull the info from the fields where the info has been entered
entered.

We insert mulitple lines of project specific information in the Header,
Footer and in a tables that are in the the body of documents found on
every
piece of correspondence that we issue for a project. So when setting up a
new job we have an employee go in and edit our standard .dot file to make
a
project specific .dot file that is then opened and used to create the
documents for the necessary project correpondence. The problem is that we
use about 20 forms currently and are developing more as we need them so
each
on has to be opened, unprotected, the info copied or typed into the
appropriate locations, the form protected again, then saved as a .dot file
for users to begin using. Setting up a job takes a while even using copy
paste, I want to help our business manager out who is usually asked to do
this task, as she has other more important responsibilities like (payroll,
billing and accounting) other than "data entry".

Is there some way we can enter all the info in once in a "master" specific
project information word docment that then is referenced using fields or
ODBC
or something from every other document, or put another way can the
individual
documents "farm" data from the master .dot file containing all the
project's
information?

It seems like everytime I post a question here I get great and
knowledgable
replies for the most part so I am sure this can be done, however I am
afraid
it may be outside my abilities, possibly using VBA or some other code
writing
which I am not skilled in.

Any help would be appreciated, but if there is a way to do it without VBA
that would be ideal.

Thank you.

David

I have the thread on my watch list.

I do something similar for production of my client documents. A draft is
prepared as a mail merge. However, I don't actually perform the merge. I
create a new merge document based on the template. I then attach it to my
database and call up the client record. Using the merge toolbar, I have the
actual data display in the document. Then I use a macro that locks all the
merge fields. I save the document in the client folder and make whatever
changes might be appropriate. At that point I am done with the merge on that
document. As I said, this is an unusual implementation of mailmerge because
I am only producing a single document at a time, not multiples for multiple
clients. I collect the common information specific to the case in an Excel
spreadsheet.

This requires that I insert the information into the spreadsheet before
preparing any documents for the client that use this method. Not all
information is needed for each document and it does work with incomplete
information.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

"DBD" wrote in message
...
Charles,

I really appreciate your thoughts on my post. In answer to your question,
I
think the best thing would be for the document to remain as it were when
created. Although the info we put in and I want to be pulled from a
"master"
location or file is not something that changes. Our headers have the
client
name, project name, and project location. the tables that I would also
want
to be distributed or pulled from the master have more client info that
usually doesn't change, and finally the footer has our assigned job
number
so I am not talking about a whole lot of information, it is just tedious
when
setting up jobs for the first time as each .dot file will have to be
opened
and edited and then re-saved.


After reading both of yours and Jack's I will be taking some time to begin
researching the info you provided and attempting to learn about these
features, but I must admit that they are pushing my envelope of comfort,
however this is a good thing... never stop learning. Like I told Jack if
you
don't mind subscribing to this thread as it may be a day or so before I
get
time to play with this, and I would really appreciate your additional
comments when I have questions.

Thanks again and Best Regards.

David


"Charles Kenyon" wrote:

Yes. This is possible, but it isn't easy.

Some preliminary questions.
Once a _document_ is created and saved, do you want the document to
update
with the new information next time it is opened?. (I am an attorney, so
my
answer to this in "no." I want a new document created from one of my form
templates to have the new info; I want historical documents to be the way
they were when the document was created.)

Are you comfortable with using AutoText?
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.


"DBD" wrote in message
...
We use Word 2002 and create standard office and client correspondence
forms
for each project, job, client. etc. And the process of setting up
.dot
files for every form we use on a job is tedious, and I want to find a
way
to
automate this if possible, i.e. enter it in one place and have the
other
documents pull the info from the fields where the info has been entered
entered.

We insert mulitple lines of project specific information in the Header,
Footer and in a tables that are in the the body of documents found on
every
piece of correspondence that we issue for a project. So when setting
up a
new job we have an employee go in and edit our standard .dot file to
make
a
project specific .dot file that is then opened and used to create the
documents for the necessary project correpondence. The problem is that
we
use about 20 forms currently and are developing more as we need them so
each
on has to be opened, unprotected, the info copied or typed into the
appropriate locations, the form protected again, then saved as a .dot
file
for users to begin using. Setting up a job takes a while even using
copy
paste, I want to help our business manager out who is usually asked to
do
this task, as she has other more important responsibilities like
(payroll,
billing and accounting) other than "data entry".

Is there some way we can enter all the info in once in a "master"
specific
project information word docment that then is referenced using fields
or
ODBC
or something from every other document, or put another way can the
individual
documents "farm" data from the master .dot file containing all the
project's
information?

It seems like everytime I post a question here I get great and
knowledgable
replies for the most part so I am sure this can be done, however I am
afraid
it may be outside my abilities, possibly using VBA or some other code
writing
which I am not skilled in.

Any help would be appreciated, but if there is a way to do it without
VBA
that would be ideal.

Thank you.

David

I'll keep checking this thread.

Good luck with this project. Mail Merge and VBA can seem like daunting
challenges, but after you do a couple of them, they seem a lot less
intimidating. My best advise is to try lots of different things.

I got started with VBA by recording macros and then going back and reading
them. I had some basic programming skills and that helps, but is not required.

There is a pretty good book called Writing Word Macros, published by
O'Reilly. You may only get a couple ideas from it right now, but it is a good
one to have handy as your skills grow.
--
Jack Rumple