Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us
Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network
Home
DiscussionsAccessExcelInfoPathOutlookPowerPointPublisherWord
DirectoryUser Groups
Related Topics
Outlook ExpressInternet ExplorerWindowsMS Server ProductsMore Topics ...

MS Office Forum / Word / Mailmerge and Fax / March 2005

Tip: Looking for answers? Try searching our database.

Mail merge has lost significant functionality in Word 2003

Thread view: 
Enable EMail Alerts  Start New Thread
Thread rating: 
bdq - 14 Mar 2005 23:43 GMT
Mail Merge in Word 2000 & before had interactive design of  labels,  allowing
individual fields to be positioned at will, variable fonts to be set etc etc.
Word 2003 only has the AddressBlock , with almost no ability to edit that I
can find. For example, I could set, say, the Name field to be bold and a
larger font in W2002 and this would be the template for all labels. Now I
have to generate a bulk standard label and apply edits retrospectively. This
is a significant decrease in functionality & usability, and a process that
was intuitive has now become the opposite. Why on earth has Microsoft taken
this out?!  Put it back, please!!
Cindy M  -WordMVP- - 22 Mar 2005 22:00 GMT
Hi =?Utf-8?B?YmRx?=,

Actually, if there were one thing about Word 2002/2003 mail merge I consider a
great improvement, it's creating labels. Did you never have the problem of
creating a label, then realizing you had forgotten something and had to start
all over again? Or copy/paste the labels, laboriously, in order to change the
entire sheet?

In Word 2002/2003 it should work like this:

1. I prefer to work from the Mail Merge toolbar

2. Choose the label merge type, select the label you want to use

3. Make sure the cursor is in the first label. Click on the "Fields" button in
the toolbar to display the list of field names. Insert the ones you want*

4. Set up the first label exactly how you want it, with formatting and
everything

5. Click the button "Propagate labels"... and watch Word copy the first label
across the entire sheet.

If you see you've made a mistake, just change the first lable, then click this
button again.

*I don't like the "Fields" dialog box AT ALL. It's utter nonsense, not being
able to work in the dialog box and the document at the same time. On my website,
you'll find
   - a list of old mail merge interfaces, and how to get them back (including
the field list dropdown and the Mail Merge Helper)
   - a macro to create your own field list dialog box, the way MS should have
done it

> Mail Merge in Word 2000 & before had interactive design of  labels,  allowing
> individual fields to be positioned at will, variable fonts to be set etc etc.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> is a significant decrease in functionality & usability, and a process that
> was intuitive has now become the opposite.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)
 
Sign In
Join
My Latest Posts
My Monitored Threads
My Blog
My Photo Gallery
My Profile
My Homepage

Start New Thread
Enable EMail Alerts
Rate this Thread



©2008 Advenet LLC   Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.