Using mail merge with multiple certificates on 1 MS Word page

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

tim - 07 Aug 2006 20:02 GMT

I am trying to use the mail merge function of MS Word to create gift
certificates. I have unique information like the employee name, department,
amount etc. that has to be printed on each certificate, so I set up a
template/document, and then a data file with the unique information. The
merge works well when I only have one certificate per page, but I want to
print 3 or 4 certificates per page. When I tried to add multiple
certificates on the same page (by copying the first certificate), I got 3
certificates with the same information. Is there a way to increment the
merge field, so that the data displayed will be from the next record? Any
other suggestions on how to make this work? thanks, tim

Reply to this Message

Peter Jamieson - 07 Aug 2006 20:23 GMT

In your mail merge main document, insert a { NEXT } field (it's the same as
a <<Next Record>> field) before each copy of your certificate layout,
/except/ the very first one.

{ NEXT } makes Word move to the next record in the data source.

For example, if your page has

certificate 1
<various certificate text and fields>
certificate 2
<various certificate text and fields>
certificate 3
<various certificate text and fields>

you need

certificate 1
<various certificate text and fields>
<<Next record>>
certificate 2
<various certificate text and fields>
<<Next record>>
certificate 3
<various certificate text and fields>

You can insert a <<Next record>> field in various ways, but if you cannot
find the relevant option in a task pane or toolbar, you can do it as
follows:
a. use ctrl-F9 to insert a pair of the special field braces that look like
this: { }
b. type NEXT between the {} to give you { NEXT }

Peter Jamieson

>I am trying to use the mail merge function of MS Word to create gift
> certificates. I have unique information like the employee name,
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> merge field, so that the data displayed will be from the next record? Any
> other suggestions on how to make this work? thanks, tim

Reply to this Message

tim - 08 Aug 2006 13:21 GMT

I had gotten close by adding <<next record>> in front of the merge fields in
the document, but it kept skipping records as I went from field to field.
Now I understand why. It was going to the next record, everytime it saw
<<next record>>. I tried your solution and it seems to work. Thank you very
much!

> In your mail merge main document, insert a { NEXT } field (it's the same as
> a <<Next Record>> field) before each copy of your certificate layout,
[quoted text clipped - 42 lines]
> > merge field, so that the data displayed will be from the next record? Any
> > other suggestions on how to make this work? thanks, tim

Reply to this Message

Rate this thread: