Mail Merge? - Labels? (XP, 2000)

[Don_Sadler]

I have some blank playing cards that I intend to customize for a school project but I can't quite figure out how to do it. I have attached two graphics - one shows the layout on the page of the cards and the other shows how I want to print the cards. In my mail merge data source, I will have two fields (FIELD 1 & FIELD 2). On the each card, I need to have FIELD 1 printed in two directions and FIELD 2 printed in only one direction.

I have studied the labels and mail merge and I know I can insert these fields but I am unable to make the text print in the direction I want. Any ideas?

[jscher2000]

You can change the text direction from horizontal to vertical for a table cell. If you create a blank document and a three column, one-row table, and enter the text, you can configure it the way you like.

Then, I assume that your main merge document is laid out using tables. You could insert your three cell table inside the cell for each card. You'd then replace your prototype text with merge field codes (adding NEXT fields as needed). I'm not explaining this very well, but if you try it out a bit I think you'll see what I mean.

The other way to change the text direction is using a TextBox, but I fear that merge and TextBoxes might not play well together. (I haven't checked.)

[HansV]

To illustrate Jefferson's suggestion, I have attached a sample document (zipped)

[Don_Sadler]

Thanks for the responses. BTW Hans, I saw no attachment.

I will try the table in a table approach but I was reluctant to do tables since these playing cards are on a sheet - like labels. In the past, I have not had much success keeping table perfectly aligned so that i could print on labels.

Hence, I though that using the mail merge/label feture would be the best way. I have defined a custom label that matches the layout of the cards now do I understand correctly that I can insert tables (with field codes) into this sheet of custom labels? When I say sheet, I am referring to what I think is the main merge document.

[HansV]

Sorry, the attachment must have got lost somewhere. I have attached it here. You can fiddle with the width of the intermediate rows an column in the "master" table to make the labels fit.

[Don_Sadler]

Thanks Hans, it worked exactly right & I learned something new. However, it got me to thinking... is it possible to to the same thing but using graphics instead of text? If so, how?

[Phil Rabichow]

Hi Don:
Hans is off for awhile, so I'll try to answer. You can merge graphics by having them as a field in your data source. However, when you insert a graphic, it is not text, so changing "Text direction...:" doesn't affect them. i.e. the graphic will come in right side up, even though text in the same table cell is rotated.

You can only rotate a floating graphic & then it would no longer be in the table cell. You can do this (e.g. with clipart) by choosing Format/Picture/Layout tab & changing the wrapping option. Then you would select the graphic, choose Disassemble picture, & then regroup it. Then you can rotate it. However, since it's not in the table cell, it would be very difficult to make it appear that way. You'd have to use a fixed table row size & to make sure it didn't "shrink" when the graphic was merely placed over it.

I haven't tried this, but I suppose you could duplicate your graphic in another application, rotate the copy 180 degrees, & then use adjacent rows to merge the graphics. (I'm assuming that your playing cards will have mirror image graphics on them.) You would need to have inline graphics to merge, however (but see below). It certainly would require a lot of fiddling with the table size in the main document.

Note: If you had each graphic (& it's mirror image) in a separate file, you could use an {IncludePicture} field in your data source.

Hope this gives you some ideas,

[Don_Sadler]

Thanks, Phil. That answered my question precisely - exactly what I needed... and from a "neighbor" as well. (I'm in the Inland Empire)