Mail Merge using envelopes

[Meebers]

W07, trying to use mail merge to print the address on envelopes. My
envelopes already have a pre-printed return address and company logo etc so
all I want is the address information. I can link to a source documents for
all the names, address, city etc howeve the problem is I cannot get to to
place this info in any place other that the return area of the envelope. I
can tab the cursor to the correct location on the envelope but randomly the
address 1, city state zip fields go all over the envelope. Its got to be
simple....what am I missing? TIA

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

In the Mailings tab, I assume you're doing the following:

1. Click Start Mail Merge, and choose Envelopes; select the desired envelope
and click OK.

2. This puts an envelope onscreen. If you've set a default Return Address,
then it's displayed in the left corner. There should be a framed area for
the To: address. Clicking the solitary pilcrow (paragraph mark) in the lower
middle area should highlight the larger framed area. This is where you will
(later) put the address tokens.

3. Click Select Recipients and connect to a database of some kind.

4. Use Address Block or separate fields from Insert Merge Field to populate
the To: address area. Click the Preview Results button to toggle between
field/token and actual addresses display.

From there, you can choose one of the Finish & Merge options.

That's all there is to it.

So, at what point is it breaking down?

 

[Meebers]

Hi Herb!...thanks for getting me started in the right direction. I had to
fiddle with it for quite a while and this is what I came up with. Since I
do not want a return address, I had to choose the "Omit" selection on the
return address selection. There was not a pilcrow on my envelope, however
after I just started clicking around , I found that if I clicked on the
middle bottom of the envelope the dashed frame would show up. From there
everything was pretty much straight forward. I choose the seperate fields
from Insert Merge Fields, editing by using a SHIFT Enter where I wanted the
breaks, added commas and spaces where needed and everything worked out.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Cool! Glad it's working out.

As for the pilcrows... Word can display "non-printing formatting
characters," such as the pilcrow, which represents a paragraph mark. Little
dots for spaces, little arrow for tabs, etc. They are exceedingly handy for
figuring out why a document is acting strange, or exactly what's in your
document. You can reveal/hide them by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8, or by clicking
the Show/Hide tool in the Paragraph section of the Home tab.

What might look like white space might actually contain a number of
non-printing formatting marks. And, while they don't print, they can sure
get in the way at times. So, most of us long-time Word users rely on them to
know where the ghosts & skeletons are hidden.

Cheers,

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Meebers]

Ahhhh yes! with the Ctrl+Shift+8, it appears (Just like it is supposed to)

 

[Graham Mayor]

Note that the merge process puts a frame on the envelope formatted with the
envelope address paragraph style, but the cursor automatically goes to the
return address location. You need to ensure that your mergefields go in the
frame. http://www.gmayor.com/changing_envelope_layout.htm (although aimed at
Word 2003) should help demonstrate the process.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Meebers]

Agreed! The cursor automatically going to the return address field is what
got me stumped in the first place. Viewing the merged data in the return
address location made for a beer drinking moment! One other note, the
"wizard" in both the 03 and 07 versions appear to be the same for merging.

 

[Graham Mayor]

The merge wizards for 2003/7 are very similar, but if you avoid the wizards
the dialogs are much different.
See http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm and
http://www.gmayor.com/merge_labels_with_word_2007.htm