MS Office Forum / Word / Mailmerge and Fax / July 2008
Mail Merge Help
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blackX - 24 Jul 2008 13:35 GMT I have a total of 8 different letters that needs to merged with a single data source. Using include text I was able to do this. My first problem is that 4 of the letters need to be printed using the paper in tray 1 and the other 4 need to use the paper in tray 2. My second problem is that some of the letters use a .5" margin and the rest use a .3" margin. Can I conditionally set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? Thanks
blackX - 24 Jul 2008 18:26 GMT any ideas on either of these? Again, any help is much appreciated.
> I have a total of 8 different letters that needs to merged with a single data > source. Using include text I was able to do this. My first problem is that > 4 of the letters need to be printed using the paper in tray 1 and the other 4 > need to use the paper in tray 2. My second problem is that some of the > letters use a .5" margin and the rest use a .3" margin. Can I conditionally > set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? Thanks Peter Jamieson - 24 Jul 2008 20:03 GMT My personal opinion is that you will find it extremely difficult to solve either of the two problems you mention using a single merge in Word, and it is likely to be much simpler and more maintainable to create a number of mrges, each of which selects the records it needs, uses a single layout, and specifies a particular paper source.
If you want to attack the problem of several layouts in a single merge, you're in luck, because there is a current discussion on this subject - look for the conversation titled "Mergefields, IF statements and section breaks" started by JAnderson on 16 July 2008. I cannot say that it will solve your margin problems - in the past, I have not been able to come up with a merge that will do that, but that does not mean that it cannot be done.
As for the paper tray problem, if you base a solution on the results of the discussion I mentioned above, then you have also to work out how to associate each output section with a different tray. IMO that is another good reason to find a different approach:-)
On the specific subject of the margins, if you are the author of all the layouts you are using, you may be able to make things slightly easier for yourself by keeping to a fixed set of Word page layouts, but e.g. modifying all your paragraph layouts so that the documents that need a 0.5in margin use a 0.3in margin but al have indents of 0.2in.
 Signature Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
> any ideas on either of these? Again, any help is much appreciated. > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? >> Thanks blackX - 24 Jul 2008 20:49 GMT I figured so. I like your idea on for the margins and I think that will work. I am trying to automate as much of this as I can. I started with 16 different letters and 16 data sources and I have got it down to 8 letters and 1 data source. If I can solve the tray selection problem that I will have this whole process down to a few clicks. If not then she will just have to filter the query inside of word and do the seperate projects individually. Logically you would think that it could be as simple as lettercode1,2,3,4=tray1, lettercode5,6=tray2, lettercode7,8=tray3 but I guess I am just wishing. I will check out the link you provided and I appreciate your help.
> My personal opinion is that you will find it extremely difficult to solve > either of the two problems you mention using a single merge in Word, and it [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > >> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? > >> Thanks Peter Jamieson - 24 Jul 2008 22:40 GMT > Logically you would think that it could be as simple as > lettercode1,2,3,4=tray1, lettercode5,6=tray2, lettercode7,8=tray3 but I > guess > I am just wishing. Yes, IMO ideally it would be as simple as you say. But if not, the next best thing, assuming you can handle the formatting issues (left margin etc.) /might be/ to output to a new mail merge main document, then run a macro that specifies which Word sections should be printed to which printer tray. And whether that works or not may depend on your printer driver.
Key question 1 is whether or not it is realistic for you to merge to an output document, e.g. if you have 100 documents, maybe it's do-able, but with 10,000, maybe the output is just too large?
Key question 2 is: let's suppose you experiment with a very small subset of your data - say, 5 documents. Can we create a macro to help print those documents to the correct ouytput trays?
 Signature Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
>I figured so. I like your idea on for the margins and I think that will > work. I am trying to automate as much of this as I can. I started with [quoted text clipped - 60 lines] >> >> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? >> >> Thanks blackX - 25 Jul 2008 13:43 GMT I am confident that we can deal with the margin issues but the print tray problem is still lingering. I would be open to try the Macro but I have never worked with them so I dont know where to begin. Do you have any suggestions. FYI: If I am able to get all of these issues resolved we would be talking about 1000-1500 letters per merge. Currently this is considerably lower but it is but she runs 16 seperate merges (one for each letter). Thanks again
> > Logically you would think that it could be as simple as > > lettercode1,2,3,4=tray1, lettercode5,6=tray2, lettercode7,8=tray3 but I [quoted text clipped - 79 lines] > >> >> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? > >> >> Thanks blackX - 25 Jul 2008 13:55 GMT I would like to try your MACRO idea but I know nothing about them. Do you have any ideas to help with this?
> > Logically you would think that it could be as simple as > > lettercode1,2,3,4=tray1, lettercode5,6=tray2, lettercode7,8=tray3 but I [quoted text clipped - 79 lines] > >> >> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? > >> >> Thanks Peter Jamieson - 25 Jul 2008 15:26 GMT It's certainly worth trying the { PRINT } field option that Graham mentioned, as it's simpler if it works, but it only works with some printers (and drivers), /and/ you have to be able to find out what the correct tray selection sequences are (increasingly difficult in my experience and probably requires a good look at the manufacturer's documentation CD or a bit of searching around on their web site).
Otherwise you would probably need to run a macro post-merge, and that macro would need to have some way of knowing which document should use paper from which tray, because by the time the merge is complete, that information is lost. So supposing you put a single digit 1,2, or 3 at the beginning of each mail merge main document, select the digit and format it as hidden. Then you could a. merge to an output document b. with that output document open and selected (i.e. the Active Document and Active Window, run
Sub SetUpInputTrays() Dim bShowHiddenText As Boolean Dim s As Word.Section bShowHiddenText = ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText = True For each s in ActiveDocument.Sections If Left(s.Range.Text, 1) = 1 Then s.PageSetup.FirstPageTray = wdPrinterLowerBin s.PageSetup.OtherPagesTray = wdPrinterLowerBin Else s.PageSetup.FirstPageTray = wdPrinterUpperBin s.PageSetup.OtherPagesTray = wdPrinterUpperBin End If Next ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText = bShowHiddenText End Sub
You would need to find out precisely which PageTray constants to use for your printer (you can record a macro that sets up the trays you need and have a look at the recorded code). You might need to modify this if you have multi-section letters, etc. etc. You could also run the merge at the beginning of the macro - typically, post-merge, the generated output dcument is the activedocument.
I see graham has posted the "splitter" so that's another possibility.
 Signature Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
>I would like to try your MACRO idea but I know nothing about them. Do you > have any ideas to help with this? [quoted text clipped - 103 lines] >> >> >> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? >> >> >> Thanks Graham Mayor - 25 Jul 2008 07:07 GMT You *MAY* be able to address the paper tray issue with PRINT fields, if your printer accepts PCL or Postscript commands. A PRINT field is simply a type of field that allows you to send instructions directly to the printer. e.g. for horizontal duplex (PCL) you would insert the following field : { PRINT 27"&l2S" } Lookup the commands to select the trays in your printer manual.
 Signature <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP
My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
> I figured so. I like your idea on for the margins and I think that > will work. I am trying to automate as much of this as I can. I [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] >>>> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? >>>> Thanks blackX - 25 Jul 2008 13:47 GMT Okay I will look into this. IF the print does accept PCL, then will it tell the code in the book?
> You *MAY* be able to address the paper tray issue with PRINT fields, if your > printer accepts PCL or Postscript commands. A PRINT field is simply a type [quoted text clipped - 58 lines] > >>>> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are correct? > >>>> Thanks Graham Mayor - 25 Jul 2008 15:15 GMT If your printer is PCL or Postscript compatible and using the appropriate driver then yes the information should be in the book or on the manufacturer's web site.
As for the macro referred to in the other branch of the thread, then provided you have the tray allocations set for the various sections, merge to a new document and then see if the following macro does the job:
Sub SplitMergeLetterToPrinter() ' splitter Macro ' Macro created 16-08-98 by Doug Robbins to print each letter created by a ' mailmerge as a separate file. ' Letters = ActiveDocument.Sections.Count Counter = 1 While Counter < Letters ActiveDocument.PrintOut Background:=False, Range:=wdPrintFromTo, _ From:="s" & Format(Counter), To:="s" & Format(Counter) Counter = Counter + 1 Wend End Sub
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm
 Signature <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP
My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
> Okay I will look into this. IF the print does accept PCL, then will > it tell the code in the book? [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] >>>>>> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are >>>>>> correct? Thanks blackX - 25 Jul 2008 16:40 GMT I haven't tried any of these yet because I stumbled on another issue. I am using include text to select the correct letter for each reciepent, but I just noticed the the bullets in the source document are not transfered to the MainMerge document. Also random words are bolded and words that should be bold are not. Do you guys have any ideas? thanks in advance
> If your printer is PCL or Postscript compatible and using the appropriate > driver then yes the information should be in the book or on the [quoted text clipped - 98 lines] > >>>>>> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are > >>>>>> correct? Thanks Graham Mayor - 26 Jul 2008 06:50 GMT Make sure you use bulleted styles for your bulleted paragraphs and that the style is copied to the template from which the base merge document was created and/or to the merge document.. Avoid manual formatting. Use styles to format your documents.
Ensure that there are no formatting switches applied to the IncludeText fields or Mergeformat or charformat.
 Signature <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP
My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
> I haven't tried any of these yet because I stumbled on another issue. > I am using include text to select the correct letter for each [quoted text clipped - 114 lines] >>>>>>>> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are >>>>>>>> correct? Thanks blackX - 30 Jul 2008 19:05 GMT Yes we are using styles and there are no switches applied to Include text or merge format fields. Do you have any other ideas? This small detail could squash the entire merge. Any help is much appreciated.
> Make sure you use bulleted styles for your bulleted paragraphs and that the > style is copied to the template from which the base merge document was [quoted text clipped - 122 lines] > >>>>>>>> set the margins in the Main.doc so the letter margins are > >>>>>>>> correct? Thanks
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