MSWord forms use list to populate successive text fields

[2surgeons]

I'm not even sure the proper way to ask this question. I have a billing form I use everyday, where I write in each client name, and then the remainder of the form is a list of commonly used billing codes. I just circle them. I have the billing document saved as a form, and each space for a name is a text field.

I have a list of clients, Client1 thru client10. I have 10 text fields in the billing document, called Text1 throughText10. I need a way to automatically fill Text1 field with the first name on the list, Text2 with the second name, etc. If the list were in Excel, Text 1 would be mapped to A1, Text2 toA2, etc. Is this an excel question, or a Word forms question? How can I do this?

I've toyed with MailMerge, but that seems to generate a single document for each text substitution. Any help would be appreciated.

[macropod]

Hi 2surgeons,

Where do you keep this list? Is the billing form one on which, say, a series of records for a single patient or family are being grouped together for billing purposes?

If the list is kept in an Excel workbook, a database, or even a Word table, it may indeed be suitable for use with a mailmerge. And, if the answer to the second question is 'yes', a Directory/Catalog merge might be the way to go. We'd need both answers before taking it further, though.

[2surgeons]

I keep the list in an excel spreadsheet. I've actually been able to get it to work, but there are bugs. I can create a single row in Excel containing column headings like Patient1, Patient2, Patient3, etc. I can then paste the list I have into Excel, but the list populates successive rows (i.e., it goes down, not across). I have solved this by inserting the list elsewhere in the sheet, and then copying that list and using the "paste Psecial/transpose" function. It pastes the list across under the column headers. Then I save the sheet, and enter mail merge. Its a snap to map the column headings to text fields within my billing document.

The only problem I'm having is that when I use transpose, the entries on the list are not in order. They are not sorted in the starting order (the order of patients in the day), and also not in reverse order, or alphabetical order, or reverse alphabetical order. I don't know how its sorted, and I can't get it in the right order. I suppose its a different question now. Any ideas?

[macropod]

If you can post a cut-down copy (obfuscate any sensitive data), I'll take a look at it.

[2surgeons]

Thanks for the reply. the file is at the office, I'll post tomorrow.

Cleaning up my last post, I meant that I have been able to get a simple text list inserted into a target document as successive fields, using mail merge. Everything works. My remaining question is when I use 'transpose' in the paste special' function, the order goes awry. i will post a copy of the vertical list in excel, and the result of the transpose paste, tomorrow. Cheers, 2s