I have been working with a Mail Merge template that requires approx 12 fields spread out through a total of 10 pages. The Word file move around with multiple people opening, editing etc.. making the linkage between Excel and Word impossible to manage. It brought me to an idea I wanted to get help on.

Is there a way to designate the first page in the Word file to contain all the fields that are throughout the Word doc and then link those fields into the official document on the pages below? Then have a setting (macro?) where the first page will never print? This way I don’t worry about links breaking and all fields in one place for quick review.
Does something like this already exist? Any feedback helps.

Even if you were to go down the path you're suggesting - which isn't practical - you'd still have the problem of people editing the document. It's not much good having a set of mergefields at the front that someone might mess with and, even if they don't, they could still make a mess of everything further down.

Solution: Finalise your mailmerge main document's content & structure, then protect it against further edits.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]