Hi. I have a problem getting multiple records to appear on the same sheet in a mail merge. I've tried suggestions from this and other threads and the problem seems to be half fixed but not fully!



I want to produce an A5 sheet, so my main document is in A4 landscape orientation with two records per page. If it works correctly, page 1 will contain records 1 and 2, page 2 will contain records 3 and 4, and so on.

But what I get (no matter where I insert one or more <<Next record>> fields) is that page 1 contains records 1 and 2 (correct), but page 2 contains records 2 and 3 (not correct). In other words the records are updating across my column break but not my page break.

All you need for that is a label merge. Simply set your page up with a 1-row * 2-column table. Do all the required layout for the first cell, then click the 'update labels' button to propagate the layout. Once you've done that, finish the merge.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Sorry but I’m completely lost with that reply.

This is my step-by-step:
1. Open a new document.
2. From the Mailings tab, select Start Mail Merge, then Labels…
3. A dialog box opens, and I don’t know what to do. I presume I am to select one option out of hundreds, being the option that will produce the mock layout of 2 A5 labels on an A4 landscape page. Which one? I experimented with a few options and only got an error dialog that told me the label size was too big for the page.

Where to from here?

Simply dismiss the dialogue box. You can design your own table layout before or after.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

But then how do you ever set up the label merge? It seems to me that "dismiss the dialogue box" = "exit out of the mail merge process before you've even started."

"You can design your layout before..." OK, so I've created a single page A4 landscape oriented document. I've inserted a single row, 2 cell table and resized the cells to approx. A5 size. I've linked the document to my data source. I've inserted the <<Name>> field into each cell to test if I've got it correct. I click on the Mailings tab. What now? I can see the 'Upgrade Labels' button, but it's grayed out, so I don't have a label merge yet. And when I try as before I get the same barrier dialog.

Sorry, I feel I am missing something pretty basic but have no idea what it is...

If the button is greyed out, the only possibilities are:
1. you haven't connected to a data source;
2. you're not using a label merge;
3. your document doesn't have a table.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Well it's (2). But that was my earlier point. I started the process of setting up the Label merge. I came to the first dialog box. I didn't understand it, and in particular when I chose options to try things out, got an error message about wrong sizes. You said I could dismiss it, but that's dismissing the whole label merge process. So it seems to me I can't dismiss it.

If you cancel out of the label options dialogue, that doesn't affect the mailmerge type - it remains a label type.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Ahh, that's helpful. I see now that when I "click and cancel", the Label Merge option remains selected.

So now I have an accessible Update Labels button, and when I click it the first page changes from:
Name1 - Name1
to:
Name1 - Name2
(which is correct)

But then when I scroll through the records I find the second page shows:
Name2 - Name3
instead of:
Name3 - Name4

Which is still the basic problem I had with my OP.

Did you use the 'Update Labels' button, or did you just copy & paste the first cell?

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I think my order of steps was:
1. Insert <<Name>> into cell 1 using the Insert Merge Field button
2. Insert <<Name>> into cell 2 (using the Insert Merge Field button)
3. Click Update Labels.

Please read post #2.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

You say "do the layout for the first table." There's only one table. Do you mean table or cell?

Sorry, for the first cell. No matter. Position the insertion point at the start of the second cell, then click Rules>Next Record.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

No worries. I do in fact already have a Next record field. When I toggle the Preview Button this is what I see:

In cell 1 - <<Name>>
In cell 2 - <<Next Record>><<Name>>

Is that correct? Should there be a second Next Record?