I'm trying to follow the steps in all of the tutorials and forums, but it just doesn't seem to be working correctly and I'm spinning my wheels at this point. can anyone please help me??!! I have a project where I need to create invoices/statements on donations made this calendar year. I have a header (return address), the key contact information, and then the invoice details (one-to-many information) that needs to be created, from a very simple spreadsheet put together with the information. It's already sorted, etc. I just cannot seem to get the Word doc's merge codes correctly. Please help!

What the word doc is supposed to look like is in the "..original" doc. The rest are my attempts at putting the merge code in.

Attached Files

	tax letter test.docx (17.4 KB, 16 views)
	Tax Letter data.xls (226.5 KB, 32 views)
	Tax Letter template.docx (12.5 KB, 10 views)
	Tax Letter_original.doc (26.0 KB, 9 views)

There are two main issues with your tax letter test.docx file:
1. your five headings envisage mergefields for Description, Payment Date, Contribution, Value Received & Deductible Amount, but you only have three mergefields - for Donation_Name, Close_Date & Amount.
2. you've made a mess of the contributions layout, by using multiple tabs & spaces instead of formatting it properly with tab-stops and, in one case, a line break.
Other than those issues, the merge appears to be performing correctly.

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

Thanks Paul. Beyond those formatting issues, the rest of the invoice text is not appearing. Only the one line of the donation amount. In some cases, it should be multiple lines, and it should also have the person's contact information above it. I'm not seeing that when I do the preview merge feature in Word.

You need to Finish the merge. Previewing is not a reliable indicator or the finished output.

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

Thank you! So I've been *this* close to having it correct for weeks now and didn't even know it! UGH! You're a lifesaver!

I am trying to add a Total line underneath the repeating section. I got it to appear in the right place, however, the data that appears is showing the next record's total instead of the current record. For example:


Dataset:

Person Total
1 25
2 50
3 75

Output:

Person 1 Total: 50
Person 2 Total: 75

How can I fix this?

Attached Files

	Copy of Tax Letter data.xls (271.0 KB, 9 views)
	tax letter test2.docx (18.4 KB, 16 views)

If you want totals, you'll need to use field coding like that described in the tutorial's 'Using an Extra Field to Generate the Trailing Content Per Group' or 'Calculating Group and Sub-Group Totals' examples.

Since your data have a field for the totals, you could use the tutorial's 'Using an Extra Field to Generate the Trailing Content Per Group' example, but you'd need to modify the data file so that only the last row for each person has the total. The workbook attached to the tutorial has a formula for that.

The alternative is to use tutorial's 'Calculating Group and Sub-Group Totals' example. With that, there is some field code that is required to go at the end of what you already have, plus a bunch more that goes near the top - it's all highlighted in the tutorial's field coding.

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

Paul - would you be willing to help me with the Totals, as I tried but it did not work correctly. I'd pay you for your time at an agreed-upon amount. Let me know!

Which of the alternate approaches did you try or are you trying to use? Please attach the modified data source you're using for this.

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

I think I used the Using an Extra Field... one. But the total was showing the next record set's total instead of the current one (or maybe it was the previous one). Either way, it wasn't coming through correctly.

I'm not a programmer so this stuff is clunky and time-consuming for me. I took the Total code out so I could send it to my client in working condition, but really need to get it back to them with the Totals working as soon as possible.

Attached Files

	Copy of Tax Letter data.xls (271.0 KB, 16 views)
	tax letter test2.docx (18.3 KB, 20 views)

Your workbook is not configured correctly for the tutorial's 'Using an Extra Field to Generate the Trailing Content Per Group' example. In column E you need a formulas like the ones shown in column E of the tutorial's sample workbook. Indeed, you could use exactly the same formulas ... Simply copy & paste E2 from the tutorial's sample workbook into E2 of your own, then copy that down as far as needed.

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