[PetT45]

Our left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. I created a mail merge document in Word 2000 - I have approximately 950 names, addresses, etc. in mine. Meanwhile my well-meaning coworker was in another office creating a spreadsheet in Excel which has approximately 400 names, addresses, etc. We did not use the same fields (i.e., I have a field for first names and a separate field for last names - he has one field for lastname,firstname).

Is there any way we are going to be able to put our data bases together into one sortable and mergable document? Or am I going to have to physically type his 400 names, addresses, etc. into my Word mail merge document?

Any help (whether good or bad news) will be greatly appreciated.

PetT45

[Advertisements]

Hi PetT45,

Yes, there is a simple solution to your dilemma. If you are going to keep your format (2 fields for names) do this.

• Make a copy of your co-workers file.
• Highlight the column that has the lastname,firstname.
• From the Data menu select Text to columns (this will split the data into two columns).
• In the wizard that opens, on the first step ensure that Delimited is selected. Click Next.
• In the second step select the delimiters that seperate firstname from lastname (comma, space etc. you can have more than 1). Ensure that Treat consecutive delimiters as one is checked. Click Next.
• In the third step you can change your data format if you wish, preview how the field will seperate in the preview area at the bottom. Click Finish.

You should now have the field into two columns. Simply move the two columns in the order that you require and copy and paste the data to your worksheet.

Make sure you do this with a copy first and have a play around. You will find this a very usefull feature when manipulating data from different layouts.

EDIT : Oops. You did have an Excel file as your data source didn't you (my assumption)? If not let me know and we can work around this.

HTH
Octagonal

Edited by Octagonal, 07 April 2006 - 10:29 PM.

[Octagonal]

Hi PetT45,

Yes, there is a simple solution to your dilemma. If you are going to keep your format (2 fields for names) do this.

• Make a copy of your co-workers file.
• Highlight the column that has the lastname,firstname.
• From the Data menu select Text to columns (this will split the data into two columns).
• In the wizard that opens, on the first step ensure that Delimited is selected. Click Next.
• In the second step select the delimiters that seperate firstname from lastname (comma, space etc. you can have more than 1). Ensure that Treat consecutive delimiters as one is checked. Click Next.
• In the third step you can change your data format if you wish, preview how the field will seperate in the preview area at the bottom. Click Finish.

You should now have the field into two columns. Simply move the two columns in the order that you require and copy and paste the data to your worksheet.

Make sure you do this with a copy first and have a play around. You will find this a very usefull feature when manipulating data from different layouts.

EDIT : Oops. You did have an Excel file as your data source didn't you (my assumption)? If not let me know and we can work around this.

HTH
Octagonal

Edited by Octagonal, 07 April 2006 - 10:29 PM.

[PetT45]

Thanks for the reply.

However, I created MY data base (with over 950 entries already) in Word's mail merge wizard. HE entered his info into an Excel spreadsheet (approx 300 entries).

I messed around with trying to marry to the two data bases -- but I guess I'm just an idiot and couldn't make it work.

After fooling around for several hours I gave up and just started typing his information into my Word base. I think I should've just done that to begin with.

Anyway, the good news is that all of HIS names are now in MY data base and I've managed to get ALL of the merged lists out of it that I needed.

I appreciate your time and effort, but I am/was running a very short deadline -- thank goodness I type 99 wpm (and that was timed on an IBM Selectric typewriter!!!!)

Again, thanks!

[Octagonal]

Glad to hear that you fixed you problem. With the Word mail merge wizard, you should be given the option in one of the steps to be able to select the datasource. Just for future reference, this can be a Excel spreadsheet or even an Access table or query. Just something that may come in handy.

Once again, good to see that you solved your problem.

Octagonal