Word 2013 - Special Mail Merge Techniques & Troubleshooting
Contents
1. Untick the check box to the left of the record To sort the mail merge a Clickthe down arrow next to the relevant field b Select Sort Ascending or Sort Descending A Sort Ascending Z Sort Descending To filter the mail merge a Click the down arrow next to the relevant field b Select an item in the list Tip To avoid printing out letters that have incomplete addresses select Non Blanks from the address columns At the bottom of the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box under Refine recipients list there are links to commands for carrying out more advanced sorts and filters eame This is the list ofreopients tat wi be used in ere Re ta options below 1o ade 1o or changa vour iet Use the checkboxes to add ve recipients from the merge When your list is ready dick OK Addresses mdb ci avi r 102 m mbri parra Road Addresses mdb ertini elio r 11 Craignair Road Addresses mdb an eni rs 11 Rookwood Avenue Addresses mdb a ieran r 12 Clandon Close Addresses mdb endon ris s 128 Worple Road Addresses mdb eese aro rs 14 Blakes Avenue jig resses a ac ats rs 15 Rookwood Avenue Special Fields The Fill In field The Fill In field is used where you want Word to prompt you by means of a simple dialog box for a piece of changing information each time data records are merged For example you may have a mail merge document that you use each year to invite guests to the company AGM Every year the AGM will2. Field Code instructions to Word on how to use the Fill In field will appear eg FILLIN Enter the location for this year s AGM 10 Press Alt F9 again to hide the field code 11 Repeat steps 1 to 9 above for any further Fill In fields that you want to add Use Alt F9 each time to check it has been entered correctly Each time you then use the Finish amp Merge command to print edit or email the document the Fill In field prompt will appear requiring an input Tip To prompt for a single piece of information that you want to use in several different locations of the document use the Ask field For an explanation of the Ask field refer to Microsoft Word Help The IF THEN ELSE field This special field is able to make a decision based on a condition in the source data and enter into the mail merge document one piece of text if the condition is true and another piece of information if the condition is false For example you have a data source containing students exam results You want to mail merge letters to the students advising them if they have passed or failed The condition for a pass is an exam score of over 50 You can use an If Then Else field in your document to test each student s score and if it is 50 or more write Pass in the letter and if it is not write Fail 1 Position the cursor in the mail merge document where you want the If Then Else field to automatically enter the text do not
3. Select the Mailings tab Why W ord 2013 Special Mail Merge Techniques amp Troubleshooting Start Mail 3 Click Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group Meer Select E mail M essages re Select 5 Click Select Recipients in the Start Mail Merge group Recipients 6 At this point you decide whether you want to type a new list use an existing list or use data from your Outlook Contacts For a detailed explanation on which option to choose see our Word 2013 Introduction to Mail Merge quick reference guide 7 Once the data source has been selected you set up your main document by typing in any standard or boilerplate text and inserting the mail merge fields To insert the mail merge fields a Position the insertion point where you want the first merged data to appear b In the Mailings tab click Insert Merge x Field in the Write amp Insert Fields group FAN c Select the field you wish to insert Field d Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all the merge nii fields have been inserted The merge fields will be highlighted with a grey background but this will not print LName Email_Address Location Hi FName Hope you can make it to the conference This year we are having it in Location See you there Angie 8 Once you have inserted all the merge fields in the email you may wish to see how it looks using the actual data a Select the Mailings tab b Click Preview Re
4. probably be at a different location and at a different date and time So that you don t forget to change these details each year you can add Fill In fields to prompt you for the current details Key Enter the location for this year s AGM ox J cone _ 1 Position the cursor in the mail merge document where you want the first piece of changing data do not type anything 2 Select the Mailings tab 3 Click Rules in the Write amp Insert Fields group E Rules 7 Ask Fill in If Then Else Merge Record Merge Sequence Next Record Next Record If Set Bookmark Skip Record ff 4 Select Fill In Prompt Enter the location for this year s AGM Default fill in text F Ask once Lox cone 5 Type a Prompt This is the message that that the dialog box will display 6 If desired enter Default fill in text If for example your AGM is usually at the same location you can enter it here otherwise just leave it blank 7 Ensure you tick the Ask once check box If you fail to do this the Fill In field prompt will appear for every record in your data source If your data source has hundreds of records you will have to click it hundreds of times 8 Click OK Yee W ord 2013 Special Mail Merge Techniques amp Troubleshooting 9 Do not enter anything into the following dialog box just click OK You will not see anything in the document but if you press Alt F9 the
5. ELD MeetingDate dd MM vyy 3 Press Alt F9 to hide the field codes Select the field and press F9 without the Alt key to refresh the field You can modify the date formatting by varying the numbers of d s M s and y s used For example the field code MERGEFIELD MeetingDate d MMMM yyyy Will display dates as 8 April 2013 For currency fields 1 Press Alt F9 to show the field codes 2 In the merge field type the following text AFTER the field name 440 00 This will give a sterling symbol a comma separator for the thousands and two decimal places If for example the date field is called ProductCost then the edited field code will read MERGEFIELD ProductCost 4 0 00 Tip for USA dollar style replace the symbol with a symbol In the merge field type the following text AFTER the field name 4 440 00 This will give a style with a comma separator for the thousands and two decimal places If for example the date field is called Quantity then the edited field code will read MERGEFIELD Quantity 0 00 NB If you want a currency or number style that does not display decimals omit the 00 from the examples above
6. Whey W ord 2013 Special Mail Merge Techniques amp Troubleshooting Creating a Directory The main difference between a Letter mail merge and a Directory mail merge is that whereas a letter creates a new page for each record row the directory put all the record into just one single document A Directory therefore is a way of re arranging data that is in a strict column row layout in the data source into a more appealing and legible format a iine Firstname LastName Address Town County Postcode HomePhone Region 2 Miss Carol Austen 14 London Rd Hemel Hempstead Herts HP39XJ 01442863428 A 3 Mr Jo Bloggs 1 High Street Penge London AW24RG 01122 232445 A 4 Ms Gayle Brown 12 Waterbury Drive Waterlooville Hants PO77YH 01705790125 A 5 Mr Steve Browning 18 Guildford Rd Woking Surrey GU212EE 01483439662 A 6 Mrs Christine Cunningham 60 Carden Place Aberdeen Scotland AB11UP 01224861995 B 7 Mrs Barbara Delgado 24 East Ave Newton Abbot Devon TQ122LD 01626842168 A 8 Mr Daniel Duffy 2 Angelique St Weston Sup Mare Avon BS231UJ 01934865912 B 9 Miss Jacqueline Douglas 36 Bergeline Ave Camberley Surrey GU153SY 01276867824 A 10 Ms Alex Francis 1 Demuth Way Bracknell Berks RG121AX 01344845010 A 11 Mr will Geraghty 455 Harwell St Didcot Oxon OX110Q 01235854338 B 42 Mrs Susan Given 24 West Common Harpenden Herts ALS QE 01582560521 B Data source columns and rows Austen Carol 14 London Ad Tel Mo 01442 865 428 Hemel Hempstead Blog
7. gs Jo 1 High Street Tel No 020 8232 445 Penge London AW ARG Brown Gayle 12 Waterbury Drive Tel No 01705 0155 Hants PO 7YH Browning Steve 18 Guildford Ad Tel No 01485 459 6a2 Woking Surrey GU21 ZEE Cunningham Christine 60 Carden Place Tel No 01224 8619595 Aberdeen ABI UP lig lg ee illite AE lita lly AMI lee alin hag He mags al Bi lg Aly all Ai Se lets ale ee ie Same data re arranged into a Directory 1 Create anew document 2 Select the Mailings tab rs Start Mail Click Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group Meer Select Directory a Select 5 Click Select Recipients in the Start Mail Merge group Recipients 6 At this point you decide whether you want to type a new list use an existing list or use data from your Outlook Contacts For a detailed explanation on which option to choose see our Word 2013 Introduction to Mail Merge quick reference guide 7 Insert the mail merge fields m a Position the insertion point where you Insert Merge want the first merged data to appear To make it easier to lay out and format Gana the merge fields the author of this ae document recommends that you add them into the cells of a Word table b In the Mailings tab click Insert Merge Field in the Write amp Insert Fields pi group mp c Select the field you wish to insert d Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all the merge fields have been inserted The merge fields will be highlig
8. hted with a grey background but this will not print NB Only add to the mail merge document text and formatting that you want repeated multiple times in the finished Directory document 8 Once you have inserted all the merge fields in the document you may wish to see how it looks using the actual data a Select the Mailings tab b Click Preview Results in the Preview Results group c Make changes if necessary eg move delete or add merge fields d Although normally sufficient to view the first record in order to check for correct layout and structure you can click the navigation buttons in the Preview Results group to go through each one separately Pi e NB Editing any of the viewed records will result in ALL the documents inheriting the same changes To customise documents individually see the Editing a Directory later in this document 9 The last step of the mail merge is printing Word will create a single document containing all the records rows in the data source To restrict what is printed see Filtering and Sorting later in this document a In the Mailings tab click Finish amp Merge in the Finish group b Select Print Documents Company_Name Address_Line_1 Address_Line_2 Country_or_Region Home_Phone Work_Phone Email_Address EP Finish amp Merge ER Edit Individual Documents EB Print Documents Fi Send Email Messages c Pick an option under Print records d Clic
9. ick Open 4 If required repeat Step 2 Use an existing list above If you do not Know what s happened to the data source or it has been deleted 1 ae Options f HENE ma a eee ree e Addresses mdb no longer exists choose Remove Data Header Source to remove its association with Invitation to AGM docx or choose Remove All Merge Info to make Invi itation to AGM docx a normal Word document Remove Data Header Source F Remove All Merge Info 2 Click one of the described options recommend Remove all Merge Info The document will open 3 Delete any merge fields Press Alt F9 to show the field codes and identify them more easily T MERGEFIELD Country There may be other field codes in your document eg index entries cross references footnotes so ensure you only delete the MERGEFIELD ones 4 Press AIt F9 to hide the field codes 5 Reconnect the document to a new data source by repeating Step 2 above 6 Re insert the new merge files as described in Step 3 above Preview and finish as described in Steps 4 amp 5 above Whe W ord 2013 Special Mail Merge T echniques amp Troubleshooting 8 Save the document Lost merge fields If you successfully open a mail merge document but get the following message when you try to preview or print the document it means that you have a merge field in your document that does not have a match in the data source Chances are that someone has enamga one or m
10. k OK Editing a Directory As explained previously any changes made to the mail merge document will be inherited by the entire output If therefore you wish to add to the directory a title headings or a cover page you need to create a snap shot copy of the mail merge as a separate document This separate document will contain ALL the records that would have been printed but can now be edited It Is important to note that this document is NOT connected to the data source and as a result will need to be re created if the data source is changed Proceed as described previously under Creating a Directory but replace point 9 with the following 1 Inthe Mailings tab click Finish amp Merge in the Finish group 2 Select Edit Individual Documents Ep Finish amp Merge 7 ED Edit Individual Documents Ei Print Documents Fu Send Email Messages 3 Pick an option under Merge to New Document 4 Click OK A new document is created and given a name eg Directory1 You can edit print and save this document as a normal Word document Remember this document is a snap shot of the merge and will not update if the data source changes Creating Mail Merge Emails If you have a data source containing email addresses Word can create a standard email message to each recipient Word borrows Outlook to send the emails and they are saved in the Outlook Sent Items folder 1 Create a new document 2
11. on To edit the field display the field codes AIt F9 An example of what the field code should look like is given below IF MERGEFIELD EXAM_SCORE gt 50 I am pleased to inform you that you have passed your IT exam am sorry to inform you that you have failed your IT exam on this occasion Press AIt F9 when finished to hide the field codes If you are unsure how to edit the field code manually delete it completely and use the method given above to re insert it Troubleshooting Mail Merge Documents Lost data source If upon opening a mail merge document and clicking Yes to the security warning message you receive the following Key e Xx Error has occurred Could not find file E _User Data Steve My Documents Access Addresses mdb Cx it is because the data source has been moved renamed or deleted Unfortunately Word makes rather a meal of this and presents you with several consecutive and confusing dialog boxes The author of this document recommends that you keep clicking the Close button to all these dialog boxes until you get to the following one h Invitation to AGM docx is a mail merge main document Word cannot find its Q data source E _User Data Steve Addresses mdb If you know where the data file has been moved to and or what it s been renamed to 1 Click Find Data Source 2 Navigate to the new location and or name of the data source file 3 Cl
12. ore of the headings n the data source gt table This merge field is used in the main document but it does not exist in the data source You can remove the invalid merge field from the main document Or you can replace it with a valid merge field Fields in data source from the data source Sample data 1 You will also see the following error for the unrecognised merge field Error MergeField was not found in header record of data source Solutions are 1 Use the dialog box shown above to remove the unrecognised merge field 2 Use the dialog above to re match the unrecognised merge field Cancel the above message and manually delete the unrecognised merge field 4 Follow Step 3 above to re insert the correct renamed merge field Date amp Number Formatting Issues If your data source contains dates you will find that in the mail merge document they will appear in US date format month day year even if they are UK dates in the data source Similarly numbers that look perfectly formatted in the data source may not appear the same in the mail merge document These issues can be solved as follows For date fields 1 Press AIt F9 to show the field codes 2 In the merge field type the following text AFTER the field name dd MM yy Ensure the Ms are UPPER CASE If for example the date field is called MeetingDate then the edited field code will read MERGEFI
13. sults in the Preview Results group c Make changes if necessary eg move delete or add merge fields d Although normally sufficient to view the first email in order to check for correct layout and structure you can click the navigation buttons in the Preview Results group to go through each one separately Hah D gt H 9 The final step is to send the emails a In the Mailings tab click Finish amp Merge in the Finish group b Select Send E mail Messages EP Finish amp Merge 7 Ep Edit Individual Documents Ee Print Documents Es Send Email Messages Ta Subject line Mail format J Send records E All Current record From c Ensure the correct field containing the email addresses is selected in the To box d Enter a Subject line e Pick an option under Send records f Click OK The emails will be transferred to your Outlook Outbox This is so that if desired you can open each one individually to personalise it In Outlook you may need to execute a Send amp Receive command to actually send the emails Filtering and Sorting Sometimes you may not want to include all the records in a data source in your mail merge or you may wish to print them in a certain order 1 Select the Mailings tab p Select 2 Click Edit Recipient List in the Start Mail Merge group Fesipients and do one of the following To omit individual records from the mail merge
14. type anything 2 Select the Mailings tab 3 Click Rules in the Write amp Insert Fields group Ask Fill in If Then Else Merge Record Merge Sequence Next Record Next Record ff Set Bookmark Skip Record If 4 Select If Then Else 5 Inthe Field name box select the field that needs to be tested for a true false yes no condition 6 Inthe Comparison box enter the criteria In the Compare to box enter the value that field needs to be compared to In the screenshot below the exam score field is being tested to see if it s more than or the same as 50 insert Word Field IF ao IF Field name Comparison Compare to EXAM_SCORE Greater than or equal 50 Insert this text am pleased to inform you that you have passed your IT exam a Otherwise insert this text lam sorry to inform you that you have failed your IT exam on this occasion a ox J cancel _ 8 Click in the Insert this text box 9 Type what you want Word to write in the document if the test created above Is true 10 Click in the Otherwise insert this text box 11 Type what you want Word to write in the document if the test created above Is false 12 Click OK 13 Preview the results and use the navigation buttons to move through each record If the If Then Else field has been set up correctly you will see different text displayed based on the IF conditi
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