New Records printing on odd pages - Word 2000

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I am using a mail merge to create specifically tailored letters which are
differing in page length and I wanted to know how to get each new letter to
print on an odd page such that each letter can be seperated so that they can
printed on duplex (front and back)
Thanks
 
Thanks for the response Jezebel, but I aplogise for not being more specific.
I can't just insert another page as then the format of the rest of the
letters is changed.

What I have is a mail merged document which reads off an access database.
According to the database, if one field is "1" for instance, then the main
document once merged will then include an additional page of information
because of this entry of "1" in the database. This occurs with more than one
field to the point where for each record read from the database into Word
into the document from the access database, there could be anywhere from
11-20 pages.

What I was hoping to achieve is that regardless of how many pages each
record becomes, I wanted to be able to print off each new record on a new odd
page so that they can all be grouped properly in the same fashion such that
each group of letters anywhere from the 11-20 possible pages could be
seperated out and sent out in the same format rather than having the first
page fall on and be printed on an even numbered page and then through duplex
printing, having it printed on the reverse side of the last page from the
previous record.

I just want a new record always starting on an odd numbered page.

Hope that this doesn't sound too confusing, but I would have thought that it
would have been an easy thing to do and it might just be that I can't find
the function to do this.
Thanks for any assistance.
 
OK, understand now. 'Page numbering' behaves strangely in mail merge
documents, as you might have found if you try to print a page range.

Suggest you think about this in a different way: rather than getting each
letter to start on an odd page, you want to find a way to get each page to
fill an even number of pages. Try this: at the end of the letter, insert a
field:

{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2) = 1 "X" " " }

In place of X insert a next page section break. This inserts a next page
section break if the letter ends on an odd page, and a single space if on an
even page. Once you've created your merge output, select the entire document
and press F9 to update fields.
 
Alternative approach: I did a very quick test and this appears to work.

A letter merge in Word puts each rendition of the letter in a separate
section of one big file. The easy way would be to replace those Next Page
Section Breaks with Odd Page Section Breaks. But Find&Replace doesn't offer
that option and I'm not sure how a macro would do it.

It might work if you do a catalog or directory merge instead of a letter
merge, and put an Odd Page Section Break as part of the base document. For
catalog merges, Word does not put in a Next Page Section Break.

DM
 
You would think you would be able to do it with Find and Replace. You can
search for section breaks (^b) and you can replace with the Clipboard
contents (^c). So if you convert one section break to an Odd Page one,
select it and Copy, then use ^c in the "Replace with" box, you'd think that
might work. Unfortunately, I just tried it, and it doesn't. :(

--
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.
 
Oh, I hadn't even thought of Clipboard contents. Just tried to mess around
with recording a macro, but got nowhere. Messed around some more. Finally
looked in VB Help, turns out it's really simple. They even had an example.

ActiveDocument.PageSetup.SectionStart = wdSectionOddPage

Will convert all the section breaks to odd page section breaks. If the
original poster is still around, see here for what to do with that:

What do I do with macros sent to me by other newsgroup readers to help me
out?
I don't know how to install them and put them to use
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/CreateAMacro.htm
 
That sort of one-line macro (needed only once) is the sort of thing you can
run in the Immediate window, too. (I've never done this, but it sounds
cool!)

--
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.
 
Thanks for all the replies, the suggestions are very much appreciated!

Jezebel, I tried out your method first and I'm not sure if the coding that
you provided was right?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2) = 1 "X" " " } - has an extra open { so I thought
that it should appear after the 2)}?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2)} = 1 "[page break]" " " } as this then completes
the If statement function correct?
However it inserts a double page break after each record and makes no
distinction between those that finish on odd or even pages. I tinkered around
with the coding and orders etc. But my understanding of the MOD function is
limited so any assistance would be fantastic.

Daiya and Suzzanne,
Am I correct in that the coding given was fine just to insert straight into
the VB builder and that it will change ALL breaks into odd page breaks?
I'm not sure if this is an option as I also have other page breaks inserted
throughout the document as conditional IF statements, such that if a field =
"X" then INCLUDETEXT Y.doc with a conditional break beforehand for formatting
sake (which I found to be the easiest way to keep this formatting) but if
this seems to be the only way to get the new records to start on an odd page
then I'll have to find another way around the formatting.

As such, I'm not sure that I totally follow the VB coding and if you could
point me to the help or any other help re: coding then I would be grateful.

Thanks a bundle!
 
Jezebel, I tried out your method first and I'm not sure if the coding that
you provided was right?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2) = 1 "X" " " } - has an extra open { so I thought
that it should appear after the 2)}?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2)} = 1 "[page break]" " " } as this then completes
the If statement function correct?
However it inserts a double page break after each record and makes no
distinction between those that finish on odd or even pages. I tinkered
around
with the coding and orders etc. But my understanding of the MOD function
is
limited so any assistance would be fantastic.
Click to expand...

I did test this, so persevere if the other methods aren't working. To test
this sort of field coding, do the bits separately and build --

1) { = MOD(x,y) } -- the result is the remainder of x divided by y.
Insert { PAGE } for x and 2 for y. Create a dummy document, insert this, and
check what happens if the page number containing the field is odd or even:
the result should be 1 or 0 respectively.

2) { IF { = MOD({ PAGE }, 2) } = 1 "ODD" "EVEN" } -- the result
should be ODD or EVEN according to whether you're on an odd or even page.

3) Replace "ODD" with "AAA[page break]BBB" --- if on an odd page you
should see AAA then BBB on the following page.

4) Remove the extraneous stuff and you're done.
 
Jezebel said:
Jezebel, I tried out your method first and I'm not sure if the coding that
you provided was right?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2) = 1 "X" " " } - has an extra open { so I thought
that it should appear after the 2)}?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2)} = 1 "[page break]" " " } as this then completes
the If statement function correct?
However it inserts a double page break after each record and makes no
distinction between those that finish on odd or even pages. I tinkered
around
with the coding and orders etc. But my understanding of the MOD function
is
limited so any assistance would be fantastic.
Click to expand...

I did test this, so persevere if the other methods aren't working. To test
this sort of field coding, do the bits separately and build --

1) { = MOD(x,y) } -- the result is the remainder of x divided by y.
Insert { PAGE } for x and 2 for y. Create a dummy document, insert this, and
check what happens if the page number containing the field is odd or even:
the result should be 1 or 0 respectively.

2) { IF { = MOD({ PAGE }, 2) } = 1 "ODD" "EVEN" } -- the result
should be ODD or EVEN according to whether you're on an odd or even page.

3) Replace "ODD" with "AAA[page break]BBB" --- if on an odd page you
should see AAA then BBB on the following page.

4) Remove the extraneous stuff and you're done.
Click to expand...

Well I've tried the coding again seperately and it all worked fine. The
problem is when I use that coding in my actual document. I've checked over
the code several times and its fine and works properly independently but
doesn't in the actual document I use.

What happens is that after the merge, it is quite a large document and so to
build all the letters it becomes a few hundred pages long. The MOD function
seems to get stuck on a certain number and I can't seem to update the field
to represent the proper page number which is why I am always either getting
an extra page inserted after each record or no page inserted at all depending
on what page the MOD function gets stuck on. The PAGE function also gets
stuck and returns a value of say 3 or something but after updating the form
letter it then represents the proper page number but the MOD function has
since returned the page break and doesn't update.
So if I had {IF{= MOD {PAGE}, 2} = "1" "odd" "even"} then it would always
return odd since it likes to get stuck on {PAGE} = "3" until I manually
update the form letter again. Is there a way of updating the coding too so
that it reads the {PAGE} properly and works?

I know that this function works as I too did the testing and build on a
seperate document but I just can't get it to work on this main document.

Thanks for the help, I would be a LOT more frustrated if not for it.
 
The code given will change all *section* breaks to odd page breaks. If your
conditional formatting puts in manual page breaks, it shouldn't be a
problem. If you have columns in the document, which are created with
continuous section breaks, don't use the code, as it will mess up your
columns.

Suggest you make a copy and test it *on the copy,* if you think it may be a
solution.

The link I included just after the code in the previous post will tell you
what to do with it.

But since you have such a complicated doc, you may want to also try my other
proposed solution--do a catalog/directory merge instead of a letter merge
and include the SectionBreak OddPage in your base document at the end of all
your merge fields.

You have a plethora of options. :) Very typical, when dealing with Word.

Daiya
 
Thank you all for the assistance, its helped to keep my sanity.
I think that I've managed to solve the problem so far though. I havn't yet
done rigorous testing of it yet but so far just inserting an EVEN page break
at the end of the document seems to work fine. It inserts a singular page to
make the document even and double blank pages where the document is even.
Although this is perhaps not the perfect solution, it works to make the new
records print on a new even page which is what I wanted. Hopefully it holds
up through the testing.
Thanks once again.
 
After completing the merge, select the entire document and press F9 to
update fields. Possibly you need to do this repeatedly, because if updating
a field early in the document cause a new page break, then { PAGE } will
update for all subsequent fields. Also, in a mail merge document, doesn't
the page numbering restart with each record?

Perhaps this is entirely the wrong approach, anyway.





Bevan said:
Jezebel said:
Jezebel, I tried out your method first and I'm not sure if the coding
that
you provided was right?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2) = 1 "X" " " } - has an extra open { so I
thought
that it should appear after the 2)}?
{ IF { = MOD({PAGE}, 2)} = 1 "[page break]" " " } as this then
completes
the If statement function correct?
However it inserts a double page break after each record and makes no
distinction between those that finish on odd or even pages. I tinkered
around
with the coding and orders etc. But my understanding of the MOD
function
is
limited so any assistance would be fantastic.
Click to expand...

I did test this, so persevere if the other methods aren't working. To
test
this sort of field coding, do the bits separately and build --

1) { = MOD(x,y) } -- the result is the remainder of x divided by y.
Insert { PAGE } for x and 2 for y. Create a dummy document, insert this,
and
check what happens if the page number containing the field is odd or
even:
the result should be 1 or 0 respectively.

2) { IF { = MOD({ PAGE }, 2) } = 1 "ODD" "EVEN" } -- the result
should be ODD or EVEN according to whether you're on an odd or even page.

3) Replace "ODD" with "AAA[page break]BBB" --- if on an odd page
you
should see AAA then BBB on the following page.

4) Remove the extraneous stuff and you're done.
Click to expand...

Well I've tried the coding again seperately and it all worked fine. The
problem is when I use that coding in my actual document. I've checked over
the code several times and its fine and works properly independently but
doesn't in the actual document I use.

What happens is that after the merge, it is quite a large document and so
to
build all the letters it becomes a few hundred pages long. The MOD
function
seems to get stuck on a certain number and I can't seem to update the
field
to represent the proper page number which is why I am always either
getting
an extra page inserted after each record or no page inserted at all
depending
on what page the MOD function gets stuck on. The PAGE function also gets
stuck and returns a value of say 3 or something but after updating the
form
letter it then represents the proper page number but the MOD function has
since returned the page break and doesn't update.
So if I had {IF{= MOD {PAGE}, 2} = "1" "odd" "even"} then it would always
return odd since it likes to get stuck on {PAGE} = "3" until I manually
update the form letter again. Is there a way of updating the coding too so
that it reads the {PAGE} properly and works?

I know that this function works as I too did the testing and build on a
seperate document but I just can't get it to work on this main document.

Thanks for the help, I would be a LOT more frustrated if not for it.
Click to expand...
 
I am using a mail merge to create specifically tailored letters which are
differing in page length and I wanted to know how to get each new letter to
print on an odd page such that each letter can be seperated so that they can
printed on duplex (front and back)
Thanks
Click to expand...

The easy way is to fix the main document before doing the merge. In
Page Setup, set "different odd/even headers" so that Word "knows" that
you are printing 2-sided, and set section start to "Odd Page".

Then do the merge and print the result.

Bob S
 
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