ID: Q183428
The information in this article applies to:
When you use the Mail Merge feature of Microsoft Word, you can only use one main document with one data source. With the use of If and AutoText fields, or If and IncludeText fields, you can simulate merging one data source into several letters. Using AutoText fields will store your information into AutoText entries while using IncludeText fields will store your information into separate letters. Either method will produce the same results with no particular advantage of one method over the other. This article describes how you can use these fields to produce several letters with one data source.
To create a mail merge to produce several different letters going to different people based on a set criteria, you first must create and save separate documents as either AutoText entries or as documents that contain the merge fields you want to use.
In a new document, set the document up as a mail merge main document. To do this, follow these steps:
1. On the Tools menu, click Mail Merge.
2. Under Create, click Form Letters, and click Active Window.
3. Under Get Data, select Open Data Source. Find your data source, and
then click Open.
5. Create the first letter. Enter the appropriate merge fields.
6. Click Select All on the Edit menu.
7. On the Insert menu, point to AutoText, and click New. Enter a name,
for example, Letter1, and then click OK.
second merge document. Enter merge fields as appropriate.
AutoText entry, use a different name, such as letter2, letter3, and so
on.
In a new document, set the document up as a mail merge main document. To do this, follow these steps:
1. On the Tools menu, click Mail Merge.
2. Under Create, click Form Letters, and click Active Window.
3. Under Get Data, click Open Data Source, find your data source, and
then click Open.
5. Create the first letter. Enter merge fields as appropriate.
6. On the File menu, click Save As, and name the file (for example, name
the file "letter1"), and click OK (Word 6.x) or Save (Word 7.x).
NOTE: You must also note the path of this file; for example, if letter1
is in the "My Documents" folder on the C drive, the path is "C:\My
Documents\letter1."
fields as appropriate.
files, use distinct file names, such as letter2, letter3, and so on.
Once all of the letters have been created as either AutoText entries or as separate files, you need to modify your data source to include a field that will be helpful in identifying which letter you will create for a particular record. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Using the mail merge main document you created in the "Set Up the Mail
Merge Main Document" section of this article, on the Edit menu, click
Select All, and then press DELETE to create an empty document.
click OK (Word 6x) or Save (Word 7.x).
Click the name of the data file to open the Data Form dialog box.
5. To create a new field, click the Manage Fields button on the Mail Merge
toolbar.
click Add, and then click OK.
AutoText Method
---------------
Enter a code in the Code field to identify which AutoText "letter"
entry will be used for that particular record. For example, if you
created three letters as AutoText entries, for each record in your
Data source, enter a 1, 2, or 3 into the Code field: code 1 will
represent your first AutoText entry "letter1"; code 2 will represent
your second AutoText entry "letter2"; code 3 will represent your
third AutoText entry "letter3," and so on.
IncludeText Method
------------------
Enter a code to identify which letter will be used for that
particular record. For example, if you created 3 letters, for each
record in you data source, enter a 1, 2, or 3 into the Code field:
Code 1 will represent your first letter1; Code 2 will represent your
second letter2; Code 3 will represent your third letter, and so on.
Mail Merge toolbar to return to your main document.
You will need to modify the blank main document to include IF fields that identify which AutoText letter or IncludeText letter will be merged for each particular record.
To modify the main document, follow these steps:
1. At the top of the blank document,follow these steps to enter an If
field into your document:
a. Press CTRL+F9 to enter field braces {} in the document.
b. Type the followingtext so that the end result of the field resembles
this example:
{IF{MERGEFIELD Code}="1" "{autotext "letter1"}"}
NOTE: Everywhere you see a left field brace ({), you need to enter
it by pressing CTRL+F9.
c. For each AutoText "letter" entry that you have, create the same type
of field. For example, if you create three letters, you would have
the following three IF fields:
{IF{MERGEFIELD Code}="1" "{AutoText "letter1"}"}
{IF{MERGEFIELD Code}="2" "{AutoText "letter2"}"}
{If{MERGEFIELD Code}="3" "{AutoText "letter3"}"}
NOTE: The Code number changes along with the AutoText letter number.
To modify the main document, follow these steps:
1. At the top of the blank document, follow these steps to enter an If
field into your document:
a. Press CTRL+F9 to enter field braces {} in the document.
b. Modify the field so that it resembles the following:
{if{MERGEFIELD Code}="1" "{IncludeText "C:\\<path>\\letter1.doc"}"}
NOTE: Everywhere you see a left field brace ({), you need to enter
it by pressing CTRL+F9. The path is the path to your file. In this
example, it would be C:\\My Documents\\letter1.
c. For each letter that you have, create the same type of field.
For example, if you create three letters in the "My Documents"
folder, you would have the following three fields:
{IF{MERGEFIELD Code}="1" "{IncludeText "C:\\My Documents\\
letter1.doc"}"}
{If{MERGEFIELD Code}="2" "{IncludeText "C:\\My Documents\\
letter2.doc"}"}
{IF{MERGEFIELD Code}="3" "{IncludeText "C:\\My Documents\\
letter3.doc"}"}
NOTE: The Code number changes along with the letter number.
When you perform the mail merge, Word produces the AutoText letter designated for the code the data file has for a particular record. For example, if record 1 has the value 1 in the Code field, the fields from this record will be displayed in Letter1. If record 2 has a code of 3, the merge produces Letter3.
When you perform the mail merge, Word produces the letter based on the code the data file has for a particular record. For example, if record 1 has a Code value of 1, Word will produce Letter1. If record 2 has a Code value of 3, Word will use Letter3.
Additional query words: word95 word7
Keywords : kbfield kbmerge
Version : WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowtoLast Reviewed: February 12, 1999