Mail Merge header row

[Scoop]

I am using Word 2003 to merge contact information from Outlook. I
created a table in the document with 2 rows, then started Mail Merge
using the "Directory" document type. In the first row I typed in
headers for the columns and in the second row I placed the merge
fields. Basically like this:

Name Phone
«Display_name» «Phone»

When I run the merge, it repeats the header row for each record that is
imported. How do I get it so this row only appears once with an
additional row for each merged record in the table?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That's the way a directory merge works; any static text in the document is
repeated for every record. You have two choices:

1. Add the heading row after you complete the merge.

2. Put the heading row in the document header.

--
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.

I am using Word 2003 to merge contact information from Outlook. I
created a table in the document with 2 rows, then started Mail Merge
using the "Directory" document type. In the first row I typed in
headers for the columns and in the second row I placed the merge
fields. Basically like this:

Name Phone
«Display_name» «Phone»

When I run the merge, it repeats the header row for each record that is
imported. How do I get it so this row only appears once with an
additional row for each merged record in the table?

 

[Scoop]

Thanks! I'm trying to use AD or Contacts in Outlook to produce a
simple phone and e-mail list. It's not nearly as easy to do as one
would expect, seemingly. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I do this sort of thing all the time (though from a database in Excel rather
than from Outlook), and once you get the mail merge main document set up
correctly, it is not difficult. If it's something you'll be doing
repeatedly, I'd just bite the bullet and put the heading row in the header;
it takes a little tweaking to get right (as does the main body of the
document), but once it's done, you're good to go forever and don't have to
worry about remembering to add the heading row after merging (not that
that's especially difficult, either).

--
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.

 

[Scoop]

Thanks Suzanne! I really expected this to be a lot easier than it is.
I've even tried linking to my Outlook Contacts from an Access database
and merging from there...to no avail. It seems whatever I try, either
the functionality isn't there or I run into some obscure bug or error
as soon as it seems like it's going to work.

I don't have any problem putting a header row in the doc header but I'm
not sure how to go about doing it. Would it be a separate, single row
table? If so, how do you get it to line up with the body table?

Do you have a sample template you could e-mail me?

Thanks again,

Scott

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can make it a single-row table (you could copy the table row you're
using in the body of the document once you get the column widths finalized),
but with that you have the issue of having to have a text paragraph below
the table. What I often do is just use tabs (left or center) to align the
headings with the table columns. But I'm more likely to add a heading row to
the table after performing the merge.

--
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.

 

[Graham Mayor]

You could also use a conditional field to place the header (albeit tricky if
you use a table for the document)
{ IF{ MERGESEQ } = 1 "Put your heading text here
"}{ SKIPIF { MERGEFIELD Company } = "" }Put your fields here


--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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