ID: Q188876
The information in this article applies to:
When you use Word to merge documents, data cannot be located in a single column, as in the following example:
John Doe
123 Main Street
Anytown, US 12345
Jane Smith
Microsoft
456 Elm Street
Sometown, US 67890
Name Company Address City/State ZIP_Code
John Doe 123 Main Street Anytown, US 12345
Jane Smith Microsoft 456 Elm Street Sometown, US 67890
If you created your data document in a different program, find out whether that program can save the data in a different layout. For example, if the data came from a database program, can it save the file with different field and record delimiters? If it can save the data with tab field delimiters and paragraph mark record delimiters, you can use the file in Word without any further modifications. For information on using a text file as a data document in Word, search in Help under merging and using data sources.
For more information on using WordPerfect data documents with Word, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: Q72117
TITLE : WD: How to Convert WordPerfect Merge Data Documents to Word
If you created the list of addresses in Word, or if you cannot rearrange the data using another program, convert the text to a table, which Word can use for merging. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Save the file containing the list of names with a different file name.
Modify the version of the file with the new name (this way, if you make
a mistake, you can start over with your original document).
address is separated with a blank line (see the example in the "Summary"
section at the beginning of this article).
NOTE: This method creates a separate field for each line in each
address. If you want the information separated further than this, you
must press the TAB key at the appropriate points. For instance, if
you have typed a first and last name on the same line, the method
below creates one field that contains both first and last names. If
you want the first and last names to be in separate fields, you must
place the insertion point between each first and last name and press
the TAB key.
Also, this method puts the lines into the first available field for
each record, so if the records do not have the same number of lines,
shorter records will end up with information in different fields
than the longer records. If you want to perform conditional
merges, in which a certain type of information is expected in
certain fields, you need to edit the data file once you have created
the table.
Part 1: Remove Blank Lines Between Records:
a. On the Edit menu, click Replace.
b. Click in the Find What box.
c. Click Special, and select Paragraph Mark. Do this again, so that
the Find What box shows "^p^p" (without the quotation marks).
d. If the No Formatting button is available (not shaded), click this
button to remove any additional Find formatting criteria.
e. Click in the Replace With box.
f. Type three percent signs.
g. If the No Formatting button is available (not shaded), click this
button to remove any additional Replace formatting criteria.
h. Click Replace All.
The document now shows the beginning of each record next
to the end of the preceding record, separated by three
percent symbols:
John Doe
123 Main Street
Anytown, US 12345%%%Jane Smith
Microsoft
456 Elm Street
Sometown, US 67890
Part 2: Replace Paragraph Marks with Tab Characters:
a. Click in the Find What box, and delete the existing text.
b. Click the Special button and select Paragraph Mark.
The Find What box now shows ^p.
c. Click in the Replace With box, and delete the existing
text.
d. Click the Special Button and select Tab Character.
The With box now shows ^t.
e. Click Replace All.
The document shows all records in what appears to be one
paragraph:
John Doe 123 Main Street Anytown, US 12345%%%Jane
Smith Microsoft 456 Elm Street Sometown,
US 67890
NOTE: This method produces one extra field when the final
paragraph is replaced with a tab. You should delete this final
tab.
Part 3:
a. Click in the Find What box, and delete the existing text.
Type three percent signs.
b. Click in the Replace With box, and delete the existing
text.
c. Click Special and select Paragraph Mark. Click Replace All.
d. Click Close to close the Find And Replace dialog box.
The text is now in the proper format to be converted to a table.
4. On the Table menu, click Convert Text To Table.
5. In the Separate Text At area, select Tabs.
6. Click OK. The data is now in columns.
7. Click in the first cell of the table. On the Table menu, click
Insert Rows.
9. On the File menu, click Save.
NOTE: As previously mentioned, if the data for a specific field is in different columns, you need to move the data for those fields to one column. If a column becomes blank, delete it by following these steps:
1. Place the insertion point into the column.
2. On the Table menu, click Delete Columns.
The data document is now ready to merge with a Word main document.
Additional query words: howto grey convert 8.0 8.00
Keywords : kbdta winword kbmerge ntword macword word6 word7 word95
Version : MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a; WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a; WINNT:6.0
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbhowtoLast Reviewed: February 13, 1999