To create the bookmark, go to the Insert ribbon and click Bookmark. Well, what if you could then insert that input into your document in multiple places, rather than retyping it multiple times? Well, ha! You can do that too! The rule that allows you to do this is called Ask and it works in conjunction with bookmarks that you have placed within your mail merge document.
![mail merge toolkit invalid pointer mail merge toolkit invalid pointer](https://www.snapfiles.com/screenfiles/mailmergetoolkit.png)
#Mail merge toolkit invalid pointer how to#
Pause the mail merge for input and then insert that input into multiple placesĭon’t you sometimes wish you could pause a mail merge and have it ask you for input… Oh wait a minute, you just learned how to do that. The challenge is, during the mail merge, it doesn’t show you information about the record you are on, so this is not as easy as it sounds. This will immediately enter the information where you are typing. Word will show you a sample of the prompt. Otherwise Word will prompt you for each record. If you want to use the same text for all records, click Ask Once. Enter any text you want as a Prompt (like “type your name here”). Go to the Mailings ribbon, click Rules, Fill-in. The rule that allows you to do this is called Fill-in. Using our earlier example of clients in the State of Illinois, we would select State as the Field Name, Equal To as Comparison operator, and Illinois as the Compare To field value.ĭon’t you sometimes wish you could pause a mail merge and have it ask you for input, which you would then insert into your document before processing? Well, actually you can. By setting that rule up, the mail merge would skip every record that had an X in the Letter Sent field. Using the example of skipping clients who had already received letters, you would use Letter Sent in the Field, Equals To as the Comparison field, and X as the Compare To field. There are three fields on this window: the Field Name, the Comparison, and the Compare To criteria.
![mail merge toolkit invalid pointer mail merge toolkit invalid pointer](http://kdl1.cache.wps.com/ksodl/helpimages/tutrl-mail-merge-03.png)
To do that action, once you have set up your mail merge, go to the Rules button on the Mailings ribbon, select Skip Record If. (Then go one step further and create a macro that adds an X to the field when you are done – but that’s a different article!). You can then use the mail merge rule Skip Record If to have Word skip that record if there is an X in that field. You could set up a field in your original data called Letter Sent, marking the records where you already sent an introductory letter with an X. As another example, you might have a database that continually adds new records. You might choose to skip records where the company name field is blank, for instance. There may be times when you want to skip a record entirely. So, using our above example, you might type “6.75%” in the Insert This Text field and “5%” into the Otherwise Insert This Text field.Ĭhoices available in the Comparison field include Equal To, Not Equal To, Less Than, Greater Than, Less Than or Equal To, Greater Than or Equal To, Is Blank, Is Not Blank.
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In the next field, Otherwise insert this text, you’ll enter the text you will use for everyone else (in this case everyone but Illinois). Next you’ll type the text you want to insert into the Insert this text field. With the above example, you would make the Field Name the geographic area you are referencing, such as State, change the Comparison field to Equals to, and then type the appropriate value into the Compare To Field, let’s say Illinois for this example. Select the appropriate options on the various fields. One of the options is If… Then… Else… When you select that option, the Insert Word Field IF window appears. Once you have your mail merge set up, then click Rules on the Mailings tab. You might think you need to run two mail merges to accomplish this output or add extra fields to your mail merge data, but the rules in Word will let you do it easily. Let’s say you have information you want to incorporate into a letter, but you want one phrase to show if they are in a certain geographic area and you want a different phrase to show if they are anywhere else. This article assumes you know the basics of creating a mail merge. The instructions that follow are written for Microsoft Word 2013, but they will work with Office 20 as well. Built-in rules are one of the enhancements that can really make mail merges sing.
![mail merge toolkit invalid pointer mail merge toolkit invalid pointer](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/mailmerge-190316134257/95/mail-merge-10-638.jpg)
Mail merge is a powerful function in Microsoft Word, but most of us don’t really know how to tap into the more advanced features to reduce our workload. By Marie Herman / NovemMake the world of mail merge work for you with Marie Herman’s advanced guide