Mail Merge into Separate Documents (Word97)

[ebfine]

I have a mail merge list created with 30 separate schedules. I need this merge to create 30 separate documents instead on one continuous document because have to e-mail separate attachments instead of mailing hard copies. Is that possible?

[itshimagain]

A response from an amateur: this trick can be done, but I can only do it inelegantly.
Plough through all the stages of the Tools | Mail Merge wizard (create document, create or open data source, populate document with merge fields, set query options if any, sort the records if you want to.) Then click the Merge button.
You're offered the choices, 'To Printer' or 'To separate documents'.
When I did this, I got 1 document with each target getting a separate page (it was only a 1-page document, with only 1 merge field. The helpful filename was 'Document 1')
The very inelegant ways of handling this are to save as... the 'Document1 30 times and rub out the pages you don't want, or to set the query option 30 times and get a different 'Document 1' 30 times.
With only 30 records, this is tedious but achievable: for the better way, I'm watching this space, too!
The frilly add-on would be to zip each document as it's created, too!
Do you plan to do this very often? If Word has a macro recorder like Excel's, that would be a no-knowledge-required way of automating it - for subsequent occasions, anyway.

[WendellB]

Have you considered doing the merge directly to eMail? If I recall Word97 does have that capability, and you can choose to send the Word document it creates as an attachment, or as the body of the email. We have used that technique to send out large numbers (>1000) documents and found it works pretty well.

[KTWolfman]

Hey Phil, I've been watching this thread because I work with ebfine <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15> (seee... I do my part recruiting! <img src=/S/salute.gif border=0 alt=salute width=15 height=20>) I was wondering about what you said about Master Documents. I know the search option has been disabled (a pity) but I know that there has been numerous warnings about the dangers of Master Documents (the quote "It's not a question of if it becomes corrupt, but when it will" comes to mind.) Is the method you describe for a one shot deal or is this one instance where Master Documents actually works for the long haul? Thanks
have fun

[Phil Rabichow]

<hr>Is the method you describe for a one shot deal or is this one instance where Master Documents actually works for the long haul?<hr>

Hi KT:
I should point out that everything I know about Master Documents is what I've read, as I, too, have been frightened away by what I've heard. <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>

I read this technique on Cindy Meister's website and I have successfully tried it. Additionally, John McGhie, the Word MVP who is generally quoted about the horrors of Master Documents, wrote that the one area that MD does very well, is to create separate files from paragraphs with heading styles.

I once took a long document (~100 pages) with over a hundred Heading1 paragraphs & made separate documents using MD. It seemed to work (I didn't examine every one, as this was just a test). I operate by trial & error (& error & error...) <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

Once the MD has done it's task, delete it. Any modifications should be done in the separate files directly.

Good job recruiting! <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>
Cheers,

[Phil Rabichow]

A mailmerge consists of the main document (instructions & boilerplate), a data source, & the result (merged data). Here you would choose Form Letters for the type of main document. Your data source is merely a table. It can be set up to have INCLUDETEXT fields for each of your schedules. i.e. one column of your table in the data source would contain a field similar to the following:

{ INCLUDETEXT "C:FolderSubFolderFileName.doc" }

Each row would contain the field for the appropriate schedule for that person or business. Note the use of double backslashes & quotes for the filepath. Update the fields (F9) in your data source before running the merge.

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Whoops! I just reread your post & realize that I misunderstood your question. I believe I have a macro that will separate each of the sections into separate documents. I'll look & post back.

----------------next edit starts here------------
OK, I'm back. You can merge the way you normally do (using the method described above). Then you can use the Master Document feature to separate the merged document into separate files. This is described in more detail on
Cindy Meister's website
Cheers,