Use of Macro SplitMergeForm

[Baldeagle]

Last year I got considerable help in sending emails with 2 attachments. This year I have hit a snag. When I merge one of my attachments (see A) into a document with all the different individual forms in one document (see one such form in B) there is some distortion of the layout. But when I use the Macro SplitMergeForm it distorts the layout even more (see C which is the form to be attached to the emails).

Is there any way that the original layout can be maintained for the attachment?

My macro is as follows -

Sub SplitMergeForm()
'
' SplitMergeForm Macro
'
' splitter Macro modified to save individual Gift Aid (and Tax) Allocation Forms with

' information from data source. The filename data must be added to

' the top of the merge letter - see web article.

Dim sName As String
Dim docName As String
Dim Letters As String
Dim Counter As Long
Dim oDoc As Document
Dim oNewDoc As Document
Set oDoc = ActiveDocument
oDoc.Save

Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory
Letters = Selection.Information(wdActiveEndSectionNumber)
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Counter = 1
While Counter < Letters
     Application.ScreenUpdating = False
     With Selection

          .HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
          .EndKey Unit:=wdLine, Extend:=wdExtend
          .MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend

     End With
     sName = Selection
     docName = "C:\Our Folders\BWMC\Form " & sName & ".doc"

     oDoc.Sections.First.Range.Cut
     Set oNewDoc = Documents.Add

    'Documents are based on the Normal template

    'To use an alternative template follow the link.
     With Selection
         .Paste
         .HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
         .MoveDown Unit:=wdLine, Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend
         .Delete
     End With
     oNewDoc.SaveAs FileName:=docName, _
        FileFormat:=wdFormatDocument, _
        AddToRecentFiles:=False
     ActiveWindow.Close
     Counter = Counter + 1
     Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Wend

oDoc.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges

End Sub

[macropod]

There are multiple issues going on here. Your various documents :
• use different versions of the same Styles
• have manual formatting overriding those Style defintions
• have a mix of in-line and floating tables
All of which make it difficult to control the formatting when copying content between them.

The most basic issue concerns the Styles. To see how a given document differs from its own Style definitions, use Ctrl-A to select the entire document, then press Ctrl-Spacebar. This removes all the manual formatting and reveals the underlying formats. Do that for all the documents, then compare the formats of the paragraphs using the Normal Style, for example, and you'll see what the underlying differences are. If you're going to copy content between documents, you really do need to define and use their Styles consistently. Granted, there are ways around this, but it's better to deal with the problem at its source, rather than applying workarounds. Apart from anything else, learning to use Styles properly will make is easier to manage all your documents, especially those with complex formatting.

As for the tables, I'd suggest merging all the content into a single table, with a mix of row heights, cell widths, columns and borders for the lower part. That will give you greater control over the overall layout. Indeed, instead of the two-column page layout you're now using, you could use a single-column layout with a table that has an extra column with just one cell merged across all the row and all the data on the right-hand side of the page placed into that cell.

As a temporary workaround for the replication problems, you might try changing:
.Paste
to:
.PasteAndFormat (wdFormatOriginalFormatting)

[Baldeagle]

Thanks for taking the time to look into my problem - I had started to wonder last night whether it was something to do with margins. I must study styles and see if I can make things simpler in future!

I have taken your temporary workaround suggestion in the meantime. But while the main issue is resolved there are 2 minor issues. I am attaching the latest version of the 3 files that I attached originally - A is the master document, B is the first page of the merged data and C is the first file created by the Macro - SplitMergeForm (as revised with the inclusion of .PasteAndFormat (wdFormatOriginalFormatting).

Can you throw any light on why the email address and part of the heading is missing from the top of C? And is there any way to eliminate the second page (which is totally blank)?

[macropod]

I'm not sure why your macro might be omitting part of the page. As for the blank pages, that's because you're inserting the Section break that goes with each letter.

Might I suggest you discard the current process and instead drive the merge with the 'Send Mailmerge Output to Individual Files' macro here: https://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-...ps-tricks.html. With that macro, your individual files will be generated when you do the merge and their formatting will be preserved. As an added bonus, the output can be saved as PDFs and/or docx files at the same time.

[Baldeagle]

Many thanks for your guidance - I have adapted the alternative macro that you suggested and have successfully sent the batch of emails with the relevant attachments.

Your help is very much appreciated.