One of my biggest gripes is with the implementation of how Merge fields have
to be inserted if you aren't using one of the cookie-cutter catchalls, such
as 'Address Block' or 'Greeting Line'.

Having to open/close the Insert Merge Field dialog box for _each_ field to
be inserted is totally unacceptable. The only alternative I have found is to
insert all necessary fields adjacent to one another, then close the dialog
box and reposition the fields in your form doc... equally problematic,
inconvenient & time consuming, especially if there are a number of fields to
be inserted.

If there is something I'm not aware of I hope someone will let me know.

Otherwise, MS, why not do away with the modal nature of the dialog box so
you can just double-click a field name, then navigate/click in the doc &
insert another field without having to close & reopen the dialog box?

At least give us back the Field Name list on the Mail Merge toolbar rather
than the useless Insert Merge Field button that just takes you back into the
same dialog box you shouldn't have had to close in the first place. It seems
to be that the 'new & improved' mail merge of 2002/03 is a giant step
backward to something worse than what it was going back prior to Word v5...
beyond that, I can't remember.

Regards |:)

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Taz, try this, though I don't feel it's an acceptable solution either. They
just keep making Mail Merge worse and worse.
http://www.officearticles.com/word/i...osoft_word.htm
************
Hope it helps!
Anne Troy
www.OfficeArticles.com

"CyberTaz" wrote in message
...
One of my biggest gripes is with the implementation of how Merge fields
have
to be inserted if you aren't using one of the cookie-cutter catchalls,
such
as 'Address Block' or 'Greeting Line'.

Having to open/close the Insert Merge Field dialog box for _each_ field to
be inserted is totally unacceptable. The only alternative I have found is
to
insert all necessary fields adjacent to one another, then close the dialog
box and reposition the fields in your form doc... equally problematic,
inconvenient & time consuming, especially if there are a number of fields
to
be inserted.

If there is something I'm not aware of I hope someone will let me know.

Otherwise, MS, why not do away with the modal nature of the dialog box so
you can just double-click a field name, then navigate/click in the doc &
insert another field without having to close & reopen the dialog box?

At least give us back the Field Name list on the Mail Merge toolbar rather
than the useless Insert Merge Field button that just takes you back into
the
same dialog box you shouldn't have had to close in the first place. It
seems
to be that the 'new & improved' mail merge of 2002/03 is a giant step
backward to something worse than what it was going back prior to Word
v5...
beyond that, I can't remember.

Regards |:)

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t

You don't have to stand for this; you can restore the old Insert Merge Field
menu. See http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/E...MailMerges.htm for
relief.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"CyberTaz" wrote in message
...
One of my biggest gripes is with the implementation of how Merge fields
have
to be inserted if you aren't using one of the cookie-cutter catchalls,
such
as 'Address Block' or 'Greeting Line'.

Having to open/close the Insert Merge Field dialog box for _each_ field to
be inserted is totally unacceptable. The only alternative I have found is
to
insert all necessary fields adjacent to one another, then close the dialog
box and reposition the fields in your form doc... equally problematic,
inconvenient & time consuming, especially if there are a number of fields
to
be inserted.

If there is something I'm not aware of I hope someone will let me know.

Otherwise, MS, why not do away with the modal nature of the dialog box so
you can just double-click a field name, then navigate/click in the doc &
insert another field without having to close & reopen the dialog box?

At least give us back the Field Name list on the Mail Merge toolbar rather
than the useless Insert Merge Field button that just takes you back into
the
same dialog box you shouldn't have had to close in the first place. It
seems
to be that the 'new & improved' mail merge of 2002/03 is a giant step
backward to something worse than what it was going back prior to Word
v5...
beyond that, I can't remember.

Regards |:)

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.


http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t

http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_lab...th_word_xp.htm will make life
easier for you - or you could always simply type in the field codes if you
know the names of the fields/

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

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



CyberTaz wrote:
One of my biggest gripes is with the implementation of how Merge
fields have to be inserted if you aren't using one of the
cookie-cutter catchalls, such as 'Address Block' or 'Greeting Line'.

Having to open/close the Insert Merge Field dialog box for _each_
field to be inserted is totally unacceptable. The only alternative I
have found is to insert all necessary fields adjacent to one another,
then close the dialog box and reposition the fields in your form
doc... equally problematic, inconvenient & time consuming, especially
if there are a number of fields to be inserted.

If there is something I'm not aware of I hope someone will let me
know.

Otherwise, MS, why not do away with the modal nature of the dialog
box so you can just double-click a field name, then navigate/click in
the doc & insert another field without having to close & reopen the
dialog box?

At least give us back the Field Name list on the Mail Merge toolbar
rather than the useless Insert Merge Field button that just takes you
back into the same dialog box you shouldn't have had to close in the
first place. It seems to be that the 'new & improved' mail merge of
2002/03 is a giant step backward to something worse than what it was
going back prior to Word v5... beyond that, I can't remember.

Regards |:)

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click
the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the
button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t