Mailmerge Directory - Incomplete Data Appearing in Merge Output

macropod · #1 03-02-2017, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souriane

This is because there is more than 255 characters in your field. When you use OLE DB connection to do you merging, you can't have more than 255 characters.

That's not correct.

When Word establishes the OLE DB connection, it tests the first ~8 records in each field to determine the data type. If those records contain text but none is more than 255 characters, Word treats it as a text field; if any of the records contains more than 255 characters, Word treats it as a memo field. Accordingly, all you need do in this case is ensure the first record, for example, contains more than 255 characters. You don't need to revert to the ancient DDE connection method.

This is all documented in the Mailmerge Tips & Tricks 'sticky' thread (https://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-...ps-tricks.html) at the top of this forum, under the heading Mailmerge Data Format Problems.

Gwinnett · #2 03-03-2017, 12:38 PM

Thanks, Macropod, for the clarification.

I did a test of your suggestion and found that it worked well. The merge output contained all the text and none of the records in the groups were truncated.

A couple of notes,

1. How to create a record that contains more than 255 characters? I used Word to create placeholder text (=Rand(1,4)) that ensured I would have sufficient text for the dummy record. See attached.

2. At first, I entered the dummy data in the first cell of the first column (Section) in the Excel sheet. That placement did not result in the proper output. I still had truncated cells in the output tables.

I am guessing that is because my merge code uses Key 1 (Mergefield Section) to group the records. Because my merge code uses Col A header as my Key 1 (Section), the placeholder text was appearing in the Key 1 mergefield and Key 2 mergefield (Question). See thread above for the merge code that I used.

3. When I put the placeholder text in the Key 2 (Question) field, the merge output was correct. See attached.

Inserting a dummy record in the first row of the Excel sheet is certainly easier than connecting to DDE files.

Cheers,

macropod · #3 03-05-2017, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwinnett

A couple of notes,

1. How to create a record that contains more than 255 characters? I used Word to create placeholder text (=Rand(1,4)) that ensured I would have sufficient text for the dummy record.

Or, if it suits your situation, you might just re-organise your data so that a record with more than 255 characters occurs first.

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