Master mail merge document?

We have a list of documents we routinely send when we get requests for
a product line. After adding the potential client into our database we
print each one (there are 8) then mail the package off.

What we would LIKE to do is create a list of these documents (A master
merge document in Word???) and just select that to print and let IT
print off these 8 documents. This would allow us to add or change
documents in the list as needed and always just run this master
document.

Is that possible? How can I accomplish this?

Unfortunately, Word does not let you work that way. You will probably
have to automate Word (e.g. using VBA) so that it opens each Mail Merge
Main Document in turn and merges the document to the printer.

In this case, there is an additional snag, because when you open a Mail
Merge Main Document using Automation, Word tends to disconnect the Mail
Merge Data Source and discards the information about what that source was.

The following is a starting point for the kind of thing you could use.
In this case, it is designed as a Word VBA macro that you would put into
a Word document. To set it up, see e.g.

http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

To use it, you would open the Word document or template, open the VBA
Editor, modify the list of documents in the macro, then run the macro.

This macro assumes that
a. all the merges are "Form Letter" type merges
b. all the merges should go straight to the printer (and I think in
this case it will be the same printer)
c. all the merges use the same data source. You will need to find out
the data source details from a Mail Merge Main Document. In simple cases
you may be able just to use the "Name"; In some cases you may be able to
get away with just the "Name" and the "SQLStatement". It all depends on
the data source. But once set up, you may never have to change that,
again depending on the data source.

You may also need to
a. disconnect all the data sources from the respective Mail Merge Main
Documents. Again, that should be a one-off
b. make the registry change described in

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825765

There are various ways you might make this easier to use. The next step
would probably be to
a. modify the macro so that it picks up each of the mail merge main
document pathnames from the body of the word document that contains the
macro
b. assign a keystroke to the macro so that you don't have to open the
VBA editor

You would then use the macro by
a. opening the document with the macro
b. modifying the list of document pathnames in the body of the document
c. invoking the macro using the keystroke you assigned.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 20/04/2010 21:06, ISDPCMAN wrote:
We have a list of documents we routinely send when we get requests for
a product line. After adding the potential client into our database we
print each one (there are 8) then mail the package off.

What we would LIKE to do is create a list of these documents (A master
merge document in Word???) and just select that to print and let IT
print off these 8 documents. This would allow us to add or change
documents in the list as needed and always just run this master
document.

Is that possible? How can I accomplish this?