Mail Merge - Ask function

[Guest]

I want to merge a document where I can see the customers name, then enter the
salutation. In otherwords, their name and address are in the regular place,
it then goes to

Dear {ask} John Smith

and I would know to enter Mr. in the ask spot. Right now it just brings up
a box where I can enter the Mr. but I can's see the name. Any suggestions
would be appreciate. Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I would not use "Dear Mr. John Smith" as a salutation. I would use "Dear Mr.
Smith" in the normal course of events or "Dear Tracy Smith" if I were unsure
of the addressee's gender. In a mail merge, this issue is best dealt with by
having the honorific (or the entire salutation) in a data field and using a
merge field to insert it. So, for example, if you have separate fields for
First Name and Last Name, you would add another for Honorific, in which you
would type Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., etc., as appropriate, then combine
Honorific and Last Name to create your salutation. Or you can have a
separate Salutation field containing "Mr. Smith," "Miss Jones," etc.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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[Guest]

Susan, thank you for the response. I agree about the salutation. My data
field has both the first and last name put togeather. I can add another
field for the mr. mrs. ect. but would still need the merge to stop at that
spot to remove the first name. Any suggestions?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If your database has first and last name together, then instead of adding a
field for just the honorific, add a field for the entire salutation (as
previously suggested).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Suzanne, that is a great suggestion and what I will do. I am wondering if
its possible to still do a merge where it stops and waits for data to be
entered.
Word Perfect used to do this. You could see the surounding data and then
enter what you wanted.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

There is not really anything comparable to this in Word.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.