Hello everyone.



The problem is pretty simple- I'm working on a database for a friend who is running a small business. She's like to be able to use the database for a mail merge- simple enough, but from her requirements I'd like to be able to vary the criteria on the searches, and so use variable paramaters in them.

She isn't very computer literate, so teaching her to change the query paramters in design view is a last resort.

I can set up a query which will either use user defined paramaters [enter info here] or lookup a value in a form [Forms]![Infodump]![contactgroup] (For example), and these work fine on Access. However, they fall on thier backside when I try to use these queries to make a merge with MS Word.

So, is there a way around this? Or are there other methods I can use that would keep defining the query parameters simple? Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks to you all for your consideration.

Hi evis,

In Word, you can use SKIPIF fields to specify that records should be omitted when one or more fields meet/don't meet certain criteria. If you want, you can combine these with FILLIN and/or ASK fields to prompt the user for a given criterion's value.

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

Thanks for the reply macropod, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to use those commands to bypass the problem though? It seems to be the case that Word simply can't use a query without parameters that were already set in Access. It consistently fails to make the 'initial link' between the query and the document, regardless of how I begin the merge. Unless I set definate paramters in the Access query.

Just to offer a little more information, the query is a simple one: Each person on the database is assigned a contact group. The Query has one parameter, the contact group, and so the mail merge is sent to everyone in the selected group. What I would like is a way for the user to set the contact group the query is using without the need to teach her to use the query design. The normal methods of doing this though [such as user defined criteria] , seem to make the query incompatible with a mail merge.

Hi evis,

Assuming there's a 'Group' field, it's simply a matter of encoding a SKIPIF field in the mailmerge main document along the lines of:
{SKIPIF{MERGEFIELD Group}<> {FILLIN "Which Group do you want the records for?" \o}}
At the start of the mailmerge, the user will be prompted to input the Group name/ID (whatever it is that identifies Groups). The mailmerge will then only output the records for that Group.

Note: The field brace pairs (ie '{ }') for the above example are created via Ctrl-F9 - you can't simply type them or copy & paste them from this message.

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

Hmm, get word to do the sorting. I like it! Thanks macropod, you've been a great help, this is exactly what I needed.

Hi evis,

What I've described is a process by which Word filters the data, rather than sorting it. Word can do both, however.

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