address database question

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jviren - 02 Jul 2006 00:14 GMT

I am setting up an address database in Excel 2003 that I need to be able to
use to make labels for mailings. I have people that are in different
"categories" and will want to group them by that category, depending on who I
am sending the mailing to. For instance, I have a person, Person A, who is a
general supporter, lives in the area, and sponsors a child. Person A is in
three of the possible 5 categories. Another person, Person B, might be
simply a general supporter (i.e., in one category). How can I best organize
the data - and the headings - so that I can make labels for just the general
supporters, for instance, or for the sponsors? Do I have to enter each
person's data once for each category they fit under with a column, "Type,"
with a code in that cell for the specific category? So - Person A would have
3 rows, all the same, except for the Type Code? Or can I put 3 or more "Type
Codes" under the category "Type," separated by commas or something, and then
organize them somehow when it comes to printing them out? And then...is
there a way to prevent from printing out that "Type" and "Type Code" when it
comes to printing the labels? I understand how to choose the fields I want
in the label, so maybe it's that simple for that part. I actually wanted to
only use Outlook for this - so I would only have to enter it in one place -
but I was never able to get the labels to print properly so I have to do it
this way, for now. Frustrating! Thank you so much for your help. --Jan

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John - 02 Jul 2006 00:50 GMT

If you use word to print the labels you better use separate columns to
indicate categories with a simple "x" or something. That makes selecting
and printing in word easy. I use that with a couple databases.

So columns 1 through 5 or so would be the data... first name, last name,
address etc. column 6 is "general supporter", column 7 is "sponsors a
child", etc. It's a little slow on input but makes the selecting and
printing very easy. You select by the category columns but only print
the data columns.

John

> I am setting up an address database in Excel 2003 that I need to be able to
> use to make labels for mailings. I have people that are in different
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> but I was never able to get the labels to print properly so I have to do it
> this way, for now. Frustrating! Thank you so much for your help. --Jan

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jviren - 02 Jul 2006 01:22 GMT

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I will try this and see how it goes!

--Jan

> If you use word to print the labels you better use separate columns to
> indicate categories with a simple "x" or something. That makes selecting
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> > but I was never able to get the labels to print properly so I have to do it
> > this way, for now. Frustrating! Thank you so much for your help. --Jan

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JLatham - 02 Jul 2006 00:52 GMT

I'm not sure there's a 'best' way to organize the data. But from past
experience and from what I hear you saying here, you are probably better off
having separate columns for your categories of people. I'd just use a simple
scheme of an X in the cell if they are in the category or leave empty if not.
To try to list all 5 possible categories and their combinations would be
cumbersome. If they could only be in one of the 5 it would be different, but
being able to be in multiple categories or needing to do a mail merge based
on being in one or more of the 5 categories will be easier this way, I think.

Each person's record should be complete in a single row on the sheet. I
would be very granular in laying it out: separate columns for first name,
middle name, last name, suffix (like M.D. PhD) and prefix (Mr. Ms. Dr.). One
for City, State and zip - those can be used to determine location in general
area or outlying. Check out the Excel Help topic "About Filtering" which
will lead to auto-filtering and advanced filtering to help you pick and
choose which records to use for a given mail merge.

You are right about being able to easily not print any fields during your
printings. Only the ones you choose will be used. Here's a link to an Excel
workbook that I put together for someone recently who was looking in to
setting up Excel to use as a data source for a Word mail merge and envelop
printing. You may find it helpful also:
http://www.jlathamsite.com/Teach/WordMailMergeWithExcelDataSource.xls
it documents the complete basic process.

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jviren - 02 Jul 2006 01:37 GMT

Thank you so much for answering my question. I did first start out thinking
I should have separate columns for type and "x" in the appropriate one, so I
will stay with that. Also, I copied and pasted the old supporter list into
the new document (which is a template I found on the Microsoft Excel site).
The shading (every other line) and cell outlines (lightly around all edges
of the cell) didn't copy. How can I fix this? I have tried formatting it the
same but can't get the same color. The only thing I can think of is to copy
the columns and then paste special. Would that work?
--Jan

> I'm not sure there's a 'best' way to organize the data. But from past
> experience and from what I hear you saying here, you are probably better off
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
> > but I was never able to get the labels to print properly so I have to do it
> > this way, for now. Frustrating! Thank you so much for your help. --Jan

Reply to this Message

JLatham - 02 Jul 2006 01:50 GMT

If you can point me to the template you used, I can go take a look at it and
give you advice on how to set your's up exactly like it.

But here's a trick that may work without having to do all of that. Start a
new workbook based on that template with all of its nice layout/formatting.

Go back to your old supporter list and again copy the information. But when
you go to paste it into the new document, choose Edit | Paste Special and
check the box next to the [Values] option. This should just paste the
information into the sheet without affecting the formatting of the rows and
cells.

Doing a straight copy and paste copies everything, including format, which
is what happened to you the first time.

> Thank you so much for answering my question. I did first start out thinking
> I should have separate columns for type and "x" in the appropriate one, so I
[quoted text clipped - 51 lines]
> > > but I was never able to get the labels to print properly so I have to do it
> > > this way, for now. Frustrating! Thank you so much for your help. --Jan

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jviren - 02 Jul 2006 02:35 GMT

Thank you again. The template I used is here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC061208681033.aspx. I really
like the shading and layout. I changed/added a bunch of columns, though. I
will try what you said and get back to you. --Jan

> If you can point me to the template you used, I can go take a look at it and
> give you advice on how to set your's up exactly like it.
[quoted text clipped - 66 lines]
> > > > but I was never able to get the labels to print properly so I have to do it
> > > > this way, for now. Frustrating! Thank you so much for your help. --Jan

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jviren - 02 Jul 2006 02:47 GMT

Your latest suggestion worked (checking "values" when pasting special).
Thanks! I think I'm okay so far, unless I have trouble printing the labels.
I have HOURS of typing to do, though. Thank you so much. --Jan

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