Microsoft KB Archive/211308

= WD2000: Text Form Fields Are Not Retained During Mail Merge =

Article ID: 211308

Article Last Modified on 8/29/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q211308



For a Microsoft Word 2002 version of this article, see 286841.



SYMPTOMS
A mail merge main document that contains form fields retains the drop-down and check box form fields, but text form fields are not present in the merge result.



CAUSE
Microsoft Word unlinks the text form fields during the mail merge. Word does not unlink display form fields, such as the drop-down and the check box form fields.



WORKAROUND
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

For more information about how to use the sample code in this article, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

212536 OFF2000: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

You can work around the problem by using the following sample macros to:
 * 1) Replace text form fields in the mail merge main document with placeholders while preserving the contents of the form fields.
 * 2) Merge to a new document.
 * 3) Replace the placeholders with text form fields and restore the contents of the form fields.
 * 4) Restore the main mail merge document to its original content prior to running the macro.

NOTE: These two macros work in conjunction with one another, and both macros must be created in the same Visual Basic for Applications project. The first macro will call the second macro.

Macro 1
Create one of the following macro examples appropriate for your situation.

For example, if you want to merge to a new document, use Example 1. If you want to merge to e-mail recipients, use Example 2.

Example 1: Merging to a New Document
Sub PreserveMailMergeFormFieldsNewDoc

Dim fFieldText As String Dim iCount As Integer Dim fField As FormField Dim sWindowMain, sWindowMerge As String

On Error GoTo ErrHandler

' Store Main merge document window name. sWindowMain = ActiveWindow.Caption

' Because the document contains form fields, ' it should be protected, so unprotect document. If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then ActiveDocument.Unprotect End If

' Loop through all text form fields ' in the main mail merge document. For Each aField In ActiveDocument.FormFields

' If the form field is a text form field... If aField.Type = wdFieldFormTextInput Then

' Redim array to hold contents of text field. ReDim Preserve fFieldText(1, iCount + 1)

' Place content and name of field into array. fFieldText(0, iCount) = aField.Result fFieldText(1, iCount) = aField.Name

' Select the form field. aField.Select

' Replace it with placeholder text. Selection.TypeText "<" & fFieldText(1, iCount) & "PlaceHolder>"

' Increment icount iCount = iCount + 1

End If

Next aField

' Perform mail merge to new document. ActiveDocument.MailMerge.Destination = wdSendToNewDocument ActiveDocument.MailMerge.Execute

' Find and Replace placeholders with form fields. doFindReplace iCount, fField, fFieldText

' Protect the merged document. ActiveDocument.Protect Password:="", NoReset:=True, _ Type:=WdAllowOnlyFormFields

' Get name of final merged document. sWindowMerge = ActiveWindow.Caption

' Reactivate the main merge document. Windows(sWindowMain).Activate

' Find and replace placeholders with form fields. doFindReplace iCount, fField, fFieldText

' Reprotect the main mail merge document. ActiveDocument.Protect Password:="", NoReset:=True, _ Type:=WdAllowOnlyFormFields

' Switch back to the merged document. Windows(sWindowMerge).Activate

ErrHandler:

End Sub

Example 2: Merging to E-mail Recipients
Sub PreserveMailMergeFormFieldsEmail

Dim fFieldText As String Dim iCount As Integer Dim fField As FormField Dim sWindowMain, sWindowMerge As String

On Error GoTo ErrHandler

' Store Main merge document window name. sWindowMain = ActiveWindow.Caption

' Because the document contains form fields, ' it should be protected, so unprotect document. If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then ActiveDocument.Unprotect End If

' Loop through all text form fields ' in the main mail merge document. For Each afield In ActiveDocument.FormFields

' If the form field is a text form field... If afield.Type = wdFieldFormTextInput Then

' Redim array to hold contents of text field. ReDim Preserve fFieldText(1, iCount + 1)

' Place content and name of field into array. fFieldText(0, iCount) = afield.Result fFieldText(1, iCount) = afield.Name

' Select the form field. afield.Select

' inserts the result Selection.TypeText afield.Result

' Increment icount iCount = iCount + 1

End If

Next afield

' Perform mail merge to Email. ActiveDocument.MailMerge.Destination = wdSendToEmail

' If you replace Mail as Attachment to true then the attached ' document will contain values from the form field ActiveDocument.MailMerge.MailAsAttachment = False

' the field testfield is the email address field name - it may need ' to be changed, depending on the data source field names ActiveDocument.MailMerge.MailAddressFieldName = "testfield" ActiveDocument.MailMerge.MailSubject = "New MM macro as attachment " ActiveDocument.MailMerge.Execute

ErrHandler:

End Sub

Macro 2
Also create the following macro example as your second macro to work around the problem described in this article: Sub doFindReplace(iCount As Integer, fField As FormField, _  fFieldText As String)

' Go to top of document. Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory

' Initialize Find. Selection.Find.ClearFormatting

With Selection.Find .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindContinue .Format = False .MatchCase = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchWildcards = False .MatchSoundsLike = False .MatchAllWordForms = False

' Loop form fields count. For i = 0 To iCount

' Execute the find. Do While .Execute (FindText:="<" & fFieldText(1, i) _        & "PlaceHolder>") = True

' Replace the placeholder with the form field. Set fField = Selection.FormFields.Add _ (Range:=Selection.Range, Type:=wdFieldFormTextInput)

' Restore form field contents and bookmark name. fField.Result = fFieldText(0, i)        fField.Name = fFieldText(1, i)      Loop

' Go to top of document for next find. Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory

Next End With

End Sub



MORE INFORMATION
Some fields, such as the NEXT and FILLIN fields, require input either from the data document or from you to continue processing the merge. In this case, Word places the results in the merged document. However, fields that obtain information from document statistics, such as the NUMPAGES field, may be inappropriate for a merged document. As a result, they are not retained in the merge result.

The following table lists which fields are not unlinked and which fields are unlinked during a Word mail merge.   Fields that are          Fields that are not unlinked            unlinked ---

= (FORMULA)             ASK ADVANCE                 AUTHOR AUTONUM                 AUTOTEXT AUTONUMLGL              AUTOTEXTLIST AUTONUMOUT              COMMENTS BARCODE                 COMPARE DATE                    CREATEDATE EQ                      DATABASE FORMCHECKBOX            DOCPROPERTY FORMDROPDOWN            DOCVARIABLE GOTOBUTTON              EDITTIME INCLUDEPICTURE          FILENAME INCLUDETEXT             FILESIZE LINK                    FILLIN MACROBUTTON             HYPERLINK NOTEREF                 IF   PAGE                     INDEX PAGEREF                 INFO PRINT                   KEYWORD PRINTDATE               LASTSAVEDBY PRIVATE                 LISTNUM RD                      MERGEFIELD SECTION                 MERGEREC SECTIONPAGES            MERGESEQ SYMBOL                  NEXT TA                      NEXTIF TC                      NUMCHARS TIME                    NUMPAGES NUMWORDS QUOTE REF REVNUM SAVEDATE SEQ SET SKIPIF STYLEREF SUBJECT TEMPLATE TITLE TOA TOC USERADDRESS USERINITIALS USERNAME

