Word 2003 Merge fields

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Malin - 20 Jan 2006 17:38 GMT

How can I reorder merge fields so that when I click to use Data Form view,
then click Find, the Find in Field popup box shows my desired field (which is
always the 1st field in the table) in the In Field box, vs clicking on the
dropdown to select it? Currently my desired field is the 3rd field in my
table, not the first.

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Peter Jamieson - 21 Jan 2006 09:27 GMT

As far as i can tell, the sequence of coulumns in the Data Form view itself
is determined by Word, but the sequence in the drop-down is the same as the
sequence in the data source, so in principle you can change the sequence of
columns in your data source. If your data source is a standard "Office
Address List" that you created during mailmerge, I do not think you will be
able to do this without causing problems. if your data source is an Access
or SQL Server table etc. you might be able to create a Query/View which
listed all the columns in the order you want, and use that as the data
source (I haven't tried). Or for some data sources you could try opening he
data source in VBA and listing the fields in the order you need in the SQL
SELECT statement.

Peter Jamieson

> How can I reorder merge fields so that when I click to use Data Form view,
> then click Find, the Find in Field popup box shows my desired field (which
> is
> always the 1st field in the table) in the In Field box, vs clicking on the
> dropdown to select it? Currently my desired field is the 3rd field in my
> table, not the first.

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Recorder - 24 Jan 2006 02:47 GMT

You can rearrange the order of your columns in the Mail Merge Recipients
dialog box. Click on the third box (with the pencil) in the M.M. Toolbar.
Then just drag 'em where you want 'em.

> As far as i can tell, the sequence of coulumns in the Data Form view itself
> is determined by Word, but the sequence in the drop-down is the same as the
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> > dropdown to select it? Currently my desired field is the 3rd field in my
> > table, not the first.

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Peter Jamieson - 24 Jan 2006 08:11 GMT

Thanks. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the new sequence is not
preserved, i.e. the next time you open the Recipients box, the sequence is
reset to the one determined by Word. Do you experience something else?

Peter Jamieson

> You can rearrange the order of your columns in the Mail Merge Recipients
> dialog box. Click on the third box (with the pencil) in the M.M. Toolbar.
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>> > my
>> > table, not the first.

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