Mail Merge Issue

[RayLeach]

Good afternoon!

I am pulling data from an excel spreadsheet into Word via Mail Merge. I have successfully linked the two, but I cannot figure out how to automatically advance to the next item.

For example, I have a list of 15 names with and other information on 15 rows. When I Mail Merge, the data from the first name and information appears on the page three times (the template puts three rows per page). The second page contains the second name and info., so on and so forth.

I want to have the first name and info appear only once, and automatically use the next name and so on.

Help!

 

[VoG]

Hello. That isn't normal. Which version of Office are you using?

 

[RayLeach]

Thanks for your response. I'm using 2003. In the past, this hasn't been an issue. I'm trying to re-create the template that was working but I haven't had any luck.

 

[Norie]

How is the data organised in Excel ?
If it's one row per name Word shouldn't repeat them.
There is a mail merge field you can insert manually that will move to the next record. It's called NextRecord.

 

[RayLeach]

In Excel, the data is labeled by column.

I put {NextRecord} after the final column but I'm still having the same issue.

 

[Norie]

Where did you put NextRecord? Excel or Word?

 

[RayLeach]

I put this in Excel, after the last column that contains data (in this case, H2.

 

[Norie]

It's a Word mail merge field, but you shouldn't need to do this manually anyway.

Have you tried simply refreshing/updating the fields?

You could try turning Preview Results off and on again.

That's how I would do it in 2010 and I'm sure there's a similar option in earlier versions.

Seem to remeber the icon was something like < < Abc > >.

Also when you turn the preview off you should see the mail merge fields.

 

[RayLeach]

Yes, I have the refresher on my toolbar. It didn't work

The Word document is pulling in the names, but it puts each name on a seperate page and repeats three times per page (the template puts three records per page).

Maybe the scenario will help. I am printing membership cards. Each sheet of cards holds three cards. In the past, I would Mail Merge and the names would automatically be listed, in order from the data sheet where I'm pulling from.

 

[Norie]

Well I think I would just start over, as long as you've still got the data that might be the best idea.

Sometimes with mail merge that's the best option, trying to work out what the problem can sometimes not be worth it.