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WD97: How to Use Mail Merge to Create a List Sorted by Category

Article ID: 181730 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q181730

SUMMARY

You can use the Mail Merge feature in Word to create a list of data sorted and separated by a category. This article contains instructions and a sample you can use to create such a list.

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Sort your data file so that all records with the same value for the key field (category, the field upon which you base the sort) are together, as shown in the sample data file below. The following sample list is sorted by the CITY field (CITY is the key field in this example):

      CITY        EMPLOYEE      SALES
      Atlanta     Smith        $3,000
      Atlanta     Gates       $50,000
      Atlanta     Henderson   $10,000
      Houston     Jones        $8,000
      Houston     Kelley       $9,000
      Houston     Peterson         $0

Setting Up the Main Document

NOTE: Paragraph marks in the following examples are designated as ¶. To type a paragraph mark, press ENTER. To show the paragraph marks in your Word document, click the Show/Hide button on the Standard toolbar.

To set up your main document as a catalog, follow these steps:

From a new blank document, click Mail Merge on the Tools menu.
In the Mail Merge Helper, click the Create button and then click Catalog.
Click New Main Document when prompted.
In the Mail Merge Helper, click Get Data and then click Open Data Source to attach the data file (use the sample file you created in the "Setting Up the Data File" section of this article.
In the main document, insert the following fields to compare the contents of each key field record with the contents of the next key field record, to determine whether the key field contents change from one data record to the next.

NOTE: This example uses the sample data from the "Setting Up the Data File" section of this article. To insert the field braces, press CTRL+F9.
{If {MergeSeq} = "1" "{Mergefield City}¶
" ""}{Set Place1 {Mergefield City}}¶
{If {Place2} <> {Place1}"¶
{Mergefield City}¶
¶
{Mergefield Employee}{Mergefield Sales}" "{Mergefield
Employee}{Mergefield Sales}"}{Set Place2 {Mergefield City}}¶
NOTE: To insert the {MergeSeq} field in the mail-merge main document, click Insert Word Field on the Mail Merge toolbar.

The fields laid out in this example produce a catalog listing on the same page as follows:
Atlanta

Smith $3,000
Gates $50,000
Henderson $10,000

Houston

Jones $8,000
Kelley $9,000
Peterson $0

Forcing Each New Category to a New Page

The key field in this example is {Mergefield City}. When the value of City changes in the data file to a different city, then a new page is added to the merged results and the merge is continued at the top of the next page. To insert the field braces, press CTRL+F9.

{If {MergeSeq} = "1" "{Mergefield City}¶
" ""}{Set Place1 {Mergefield City}}¶
{If {Place2} <> {Place1}"
----------------------------Page Break--------------------------------
{Mergefield City}¶
¶
{Mergefield Employee}{Mergefield Sales}" "{Mergefield
Employee}{Mergefield Sales}"}{Set Place2 {Mergefield City}}¶

NOTE: A page break is inserted either by pressing CTRL+ENTER or by clicking Break on the Insert menu, selecting Page Break, and then clicking OK.

The fields laid out in this example produce a catalog listing on separate pages as follows:

Atlanta

Smith $3,000
Gates $50,000
Henderson $10,000
----------------------------Page Break--------------------------------
Houston

Jones $8,000
Kelley $9,000
Peterson $0

Formatting the Key Field

The key field in this example is {Mergefield City}. To format the results of the {Mergefield City} as all capital letters, you can use the formatting switch of \* Upper. To insert the field braces, press CTRL+F9.

{If {MergeSeq} = "1" "{Mergefield City \* Upper}¶
" ""}{Set Place1 {Mergefield City}}¶
{If {Place2} <> {Place1}"¶
{Mergefield City \* Upper}¶
¶
{Mergefield Employee}{Mergefield Sales}" "{Mergefield
Employee}{Mergefield Sales}"}{Set Place2 {Mergefield City}}¶

The fields laid out in this example produce a catalog listing on the same page with the city in all capital letters as follows:

ATLANTA

Smith $3,000
Gates $50,000
Henderson $10,000

HOUSTON

Jones $8,000
Kelley $9,000
Peterson $0

For more information about general field formatting switches, click Contents and Index on the Help menu, click the Index tab in Microsoft Word Help, type the following text

fields, formatting

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Help Topics: Microsoft Word" topic. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

NOTE: You can apply different formatting to the key field {Mergefield City} by selecting the entire field (including the field braces ({}) and formatting the field as you want. For example, to format the field, click Font on the Format menu.

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REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

141922

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/141922/EN-US/ )

WD97: How to Start a Mail Merge

194747

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/194747/EN-US/ )

WD97: Mail Merge Tutorial and Help File Available

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Properties

Article ID: 181730 - Last Review: August 29, 2007 - Revision: 1.3

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

kbfield kbinfo kblayout kbmerge KB181730

Retired KB Content Disclaimer

This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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