I am trying to automate writing a document that requires a list of people to appear in multiple locations in the document. I have a spreadsheet that contains this list, but I have not found a way for Mail Merge to "cycle through" the list more than once. It is silly to copy the list over and over inside the spreadsheet, but I have not found another way to make this work. Please help if you have any ideas or suggestions on a better way to accomplish this task!

You could simply bookmark the list range, then insert a cross-reference to the bookmark wherever else you want the list to appear.

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

Since this is the first time I've used bookmarks across documents, I am struggling a little with the syntax. I input the text :

INCLUDE TEXT C:\\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\_TLS Work\_Defendant Data.docx

into the document and after selecting the text I press CTRL-F9 to create the field. However I continue to receive an error stating "Error! Cannot open data source."

Also, I am not sure how to specify the bookmark I need from the specified file.

Any thoughts?

Hi Melanie,

Apart from the fact this has nothing apparent to do with the mailmerge issue you posted about, your basic field code should look like:
{INCLUDETEXT "C:\\Documents and Settings\\Owner\\My Documents\\_TLS Work\\_Defendant Data.docx"}
This will import all of _Defendant Data.docx. To import only a bookmarked range, use:
{INCLUDETEXT "C:\\Documents and Settings\\Owner\\My Documents\\_TLS Work\\_Defendant Data.docx" "Bookmark"}
where 'Bookmark' is the bookmark's name.

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

I have no experience with cross references ... And I decided to try using a word document to house my list.
If you can provide some additional info on how to go about inserting one
for the bookmarks in my data doc I would appreciate the elightenment.
I know I must be making this task overly difficult...

Hi Melanie,

To use a cross-reference, first bookmark the thing you want to cross-reference (Insert|Bookmark). Then, wherever you want the cross-reference to appear, use Insert|Cross-reference>Bookmark and select the relevant bookmark. That's all there is to it. I have no idea why you're trying to use an INCLUDETEXT field.

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

I may have over-simplified my description of the task in the original post. I am collecting a variety of data from several sources and creating one "master data" document. Inside that data doc there is a list of names that needs to be placed inside the Legal Complaint document I am creating several times as well as a variety of other data that may vary between Complaint documents. I want to create a master "shell" for the complaint that I can then attach to the Master Data document and pull out the required info in the required locations so that I have some reusability of the shell (sans specific case data). So mail Merge was were I started ... and that didn't work out so well for every item I needed to include. I think I am going to need to use a variety of tools to accomplish this task. The includetext statement was something I was using to attempt to reference a data doc bookmark's contents in this Shell doc. It seems in trying to create less work in the future I have made it difficult on myself this first go-around!

I created bookmarks in my Master Data document, however just using the interface to insert a cross-reference in the Shell doc as you describe does not give me a list of bookmarks from the data doc ... not sure how to enter a path to the file.

Then suddenly it seemed as if my INCLUDE TEXT could read the file and import it.... and the bookmarks were available from the data doc.

Remove the INCLUDE TEXT and we are back to cannot connect to data source and no bookmarks from the data doc available either.

here's a sample of what I am trying to do ... very stripped down of couse...

Attached Files

	data.docx (13.8 KB, 10 views)
	Shell.docx (15.2 KB, 10 views)

Hi Melanie,

Given your data structure, you would need to use Word's Catalogue/Directory Mailmerge facility for this (the terminology depends on the Word version). To produce the kind of output you're after, this requires much more complex filed coding than a standard letter merge - and neither the INCLUDETEXT field nor the bookmarking and cros--referencing we've been discussing might be applicable. To see how to create such a mailmerge with any data source supported by Word, check out my Microsoft Word Catalogue/Directory Mailmerge Tutorial at:
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/sho...ngs-(2000-2010)
or
http://www.gmayor.com/Zips/Catalogue%20Mailmerge.zip

The tutorial covers everything from list creation to the insertion & calculation of values in multi-record tables in letters. Do read the tutorial before trying to use the mailmerge document included with it. Although the tutorial's data are in an Excel workbook, the fields work equally well with Word tables.

For some worked examples, see the attachment to the posts at:
https://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-...html#post23345
https://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-...html#post30327

Alternatively, you may want to try the Many-to-One Mail Merge add-in from Graham Mayor at: http://www.gmayor.com/ManyToOne.htm

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

Thanks! It gives me a lot to review! Seems like such a simple task on the surface.... But the work upfront will make my job easier in the future! You've been a great resource!! I'll post again after I look at all this info!