Mail merge using two data sources in same document

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Mommasbroke - 09 Dec 2005 16:58 GMT

I'm trying to mail merge a letter that requires information from two
different data sources. I can not put the information from the two different
data sources into one excell spreadsheet because the data does not
necessarily relate, therefore I need to be able to draw the specific
information I need from the two data sources into the letter.

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 09 Dec 2005 19:11 GMT

Mail merge can only use a single, flat file as a datasource. It is very
hard to imagine that there is not some relationship between the records in
your two sources seeing as how you want to combine them in a merged
document.

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Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

> I'm trying to mail merge a letter that requires information from two
> different data sources. I can not put the information from the two
> different
> data sources into one excell spreadsheet because the data does not
> necessarily relate, therefore I need to be able to draw the specific
> information I need from the two data sources into the letter.

Reply to this Message

Mommasbroke - 09 Dec 2005 19:50 GMT

Thanks Doug for responding.

Yes, there is a relationship between the records that is why I need to use
both.

You see we are a construction company and we use various vendors for
different jobs. I have a data base set up for both vendors and jobs.

I can't create just one data base because that job may not relate to that
vendor or vice versa.

> Mail merge can only use a single, flat file as a datasource. It is very
> hard to imagine that there is not some relationship between the records in
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> > necessarily relate, therefore I need to be able to draw the specific
> > information I need from the two data sources into the letter.

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 09 Dec 2005 21:54 GMT

To do what you want, you will need to have a field in each datasource that
you can use to link them.

Signature

Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

> Thanks Doug for responding.
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>> > necessarily relate, therefore I need to be able to draw the specific
>> > information I need from the two data sources into the letter.

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Mommasbroke - 09 Dec 2005 22:12 GMT

Can I get that information from the "Help" on Excell?

> To do what you want, you will need to have a field in each datasource that
> you can use to link them.
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> >> > necessarily relate, therefore I need to be able to draw the specific
> >> > information I need from the two data sources into the letter.

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 10 Dec 2005 08:59 GMT

Probably not. The field in each data source that can be used to link them
is going to be unique to your situation. And, to successfully link (or
join) the two tables together the data in the "link" fields will have to be
unique for each record in both of the data sources. To join them together
using Excel, you would sort each data source on the link fields so that the
records in each are both in the same order (that is so that the first record
in one data source is the record to be linked to the first record in the
other data source Then you can copy and paste the data from one datasource
so that it is alongside the data in the other data source.

Of course if you have a situation where a record in one data source needs to
be linked to more than one record in the other data source, Word cannot
really handle this and you should probably be using a database such as
Access.

Signature

Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

> Can I get that information from the "Help" on Excell?
>
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
>> >> > necessarily relate, therefore I need to be able to draw the specific
>> >> > information I need from the two data sources into the letter.

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