Cross References lost after mail merge

gsjmia · #1 02-17-2024, 08:41 PM

I am a lawyer and have recently been investing the time to use mail merge.

But, on a long agreement, I thought it would be a good idea to set up my template for mail merge, then put all the specifics in excel (e.g, the name of the parties, officers names, addresses, etc.) merge it, and then use the results as my starting draft before customizing for the deal at hand.

But the 65 page template has cross references, because I frequently will add or remove paragraphs, depending on what is needed.

The merged resulting doc, no longer has dynamic cross references.

I can understand why, if I was using the merge for a mailing letter, or a number of docs, all the cross references would create a nightmare.

But I am just merging one doc-is there anyway to preserve the auto cross references?

macropod · #2 02-18-2024, 02:24 PM

About the only way would be to have your mailmerge main document update the fields, then save it as a normal document and convert all the mergefields to their results. A fairly simple macro could be used for the last part. A slightly more involved macro could be used for the lot.

gsjmia · #3 02-18-2024, 07:44 PM

Thank you macropod, I didn' know that the mailmerge fields could be converted, how would you do that?
Not asking for you to create macro, but what are the features/steps?

macropod · #4 02-19-2024, 05:30 AM

For example (easier to code than explain):

Code:

Sub Demo()
' Sourced from: https://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-merge/52094-cross-references-lost-after-mail-merge.html
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim i As Long
With ActiveDocument
  .Fields.Update
  .MailMerge.MainDocumentType = wdNotAMergeDocument
  For i = .Fields.Count To 1 Step -1
    With .Fields(i)
      Select Case .Type
        Case wdFieldMergeField, wdFieldMergeBarcode, wdFieldMergeRec, wdFieldMergeSeq: .Unlink
      End Select
    End With
  Next i
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
With Application.Dialogs(wdDialogFileSaveAs)
  .Format = wdFormatXMLDocument
  .Show
End With
End Sub

Note: You'll need to save the mailmerge main document in the .docm format after adding the macro.

For PC macro installation & usage instructions, see: Installing Macros
For Mac macro installation & usage instructions, see: Word:mac - Install a Macro

gsjmia · #5 02-19-2024, 10:19 AM

Wow, thank you!

Coitw · #6 06-20-2024, 06:18 PM

macropod thank you very much for providing that macro. I have a similar use to OP for this and it seems to be almost exactly what I was after.

An issue that I have encountered that I wonder if you can help with is that my document uses If...Then...Else... merge fields. While the normal merge fields appear to be correctly converted to static text, the if fields do not get converted... Are you able to point me in the right direction to fix this?

Edit: I have been able to resolve my own issue by adding the 'wdFieldIf' type to the line where fields are unlinked (so that it now reads: 'Case wdFieldMergeField, wdFieldMergeBarcode, wdFieldIf, wdFieldMergeRec, wdFieldMergeSeq: .Unlink')

In the hope that this might assist others with this issue in the future, I found the relevant enumeration here: WdFieldType enumeration (Word) which should allow you to find any specific/niche field types to insert into that line.

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