Wrong record inserted in merge document

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Holly - 25 May 2006 15:08 GMT

I'm using merge to create reports (not letters) from an Excel file data
source. Previously I would select the single pertinent record for a specific
client the used the “merge to new document” command and save that document
for the report under the client’s name (these are reports that are updated
over time). However, I switched months ago when I discovered “save date”
because I liked using save date (instead of date) but when I merged save date
to a new document it turned the date into XXs andOOs. Instead, I began to
save the merge document as a separate merge document for the client (did not
“merge to new document”) which has worked fine until today. While I have
been adding new names to the data source Excel file for some time and always
sort so in alphabetical order so easier to choose, this last name I inserted
has thrown everything off and is selecting the name just under the real name.
How do I get it to go back to keeping the record chosen and saved? Thanks.
Holly

PS – In rereading this I’ll be VERY impressed if anyone can follow what I
just said (sorry) … but I hope so.

Reply to this Message

Peter Jamieson - 26 May 2006 11:18 GMT

> PS - In rereading this I'll be VERY impressed if anyone can follow what I
> just said (sorry) . but I hope so.

OK, I think what you are saying is that
a. you open your Mail Merge Main Document
b. while previewing, you navigate to the Excel record you want
c. you save the document with the preview data in it

However, I am not quite so sure what is happening next, partly because I
don't know exactly how you are navigating to the record you want:

> this last name I inserted
> has thrown everything off and is selecting the name just under the real
> name.

Just some question that may help provide some clues:

Is it that you are selecting a record with (say) the name Peter but Word is
inserting data from the record with name Holly (and "Peter" never appears),
or is it that you are selecting "Peter" and "Peter" appears in the document,
but all the rest of the data is for "Holly."
Does the problem occur for all records or just the new one(s)? If it's all
records, what happens when you select the one at the beginning or end of the
list?
Does the problem occur when you preview /and/ when you merge to a new
document (i.e. the way you used to do it).
If you reconnect to the data source, does the problem remain?
If you delete some records from your Excel file to reduce its size to the
point before the problem began, does the problem remain?
Was there anything unusual about the data you entered just before the
problem started occurring, e.g. any unusual characters in the data, such as
double-quotes?

Which version of Word, how are you connecting to the Excel file, and how are
you selecting records?

Finally,

> but when I merged save date
> to a new document it turned the date into XXs andOOs.

Can you spell this out? As long as you save the Mail merge Main Document
before you merge, a { SAVEDATE } field should evaluate correctly when you
merge.

Peter Jamieson

> I'm using merge to create reports (not letters) from an Excel file data
> source. Previously I would select the single pertinent record for a
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> PS - In rereading this I'll be VERY impressed if anyone can follow what I
> just said (sorry) . but I hope so.

Reply to this Message