Microsoft KB Archive/98798

= ACC: Creating Reports to Mail Merge Microsoft Access Data =

Article ID: 98798

Article Last Modified on 1/18/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 1.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 1.1 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 2.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q98798



Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.



SUMMARY
To use a mail merge with Microsoft Access data, you can export or copy your data to a word processor, or in Microsoft Access 2.0, 7.0 and 97, you can click the Merge It button on the toolbar. However, you can also create a Microsoft Access report to generate mail-merge documents. This article shows a technique that uses a Microsoft Access report as the main document in a mail merge.



MORE INFORMATION
The following is an example of a business letter that you can create as a Microsoft Access report. All values in angle brackets (<>) are items that can be filled in during the mail merge:

  KB Advertising Agency



 <123 E. Main Street> 

Dear ,

We are pleased to announce our new line of office furniture. As a  customer, you are entitled to a <10>% discount off our catalog prices.

Call us today toll-free at (800) 555-1212 and receive a free full-color catalog detailing all our top-of-the-line office products.

Sincerely,

J. Grant Manager, Office Products

How to Create the Sample Mail Merge
 Create a new, blank database.  Create the following new table and save it as Customer:

     Table: Customer --     Field Name: Salutation Data Type: Text Field Name: First Name Data Type: Text Field Name: Last Name Data Type: Text Field Name: Address Data Type: Text Field Name: City Data Type: Text Field Name: State Data Type: Text Field Name: ZIP Data Type: Text Field Name: Customer Type Data Type: Text Field Name: Discount Pct Data Type: Number   Open the table in Datasheet view and add the following records:

<pre class="fixed_text">     Salu-   First  Last                                     Cust Disc tation Name   Name   Address   City       St    ZIP    Type Pct -     Mr.     John   Doe    123 Main  Middleton  OH    44044  Valued 10 Mrs.   Sally  White  52A Elm   Florence   KY    45123  Special 5 Dr.    Fred   Weiss  Box 456   Camden     SC    29332  Super  25 </li> Create a new report in Design view based on the Customer table:

NOTE: Do not use a Microsoft Access Report Wizard to create this report. <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> On the View menu, (or the Layout menu in version 1.x, or the Format menu in version 2.0), clear the check marks next to Report Header/ Footer and Page Header/Footer to remove those sections from the report.</li> Delete the label controls that are created by default with each text box control.</li>  Set the following properties of the report's Detail section:

<pre class="fixed_text">        Section: Detail ---        ForceNewPage: After Section CanGrow: Yes </li>  Add the following controls to the Detail section of the report:

<pre class="fixed_text">        Label: Name: Company Label Caption: KB Advertising Agency Text Box: Name: Today's Date ControlSource: =Date Format: Long Date Text Box: Name: Name Line ControlSource: =[First Name] & &quot; &quot; & [Last Name] Text Box: Name: Address Line ControlSource: =[Address] Text Box: Name: CSZ Line ControlSource: =[City] & &quot;, &quot; & [State] & &quot; &quot; & [ZIP] Text Box: Name: Salutation Line ControlSource: =&quot;Dear &quot;&[Salutation]&&quot; &quot;&[Last Name]&&quot;,&quot; Text Box: Name: Para 1 ControlSource: =&quot;We are pleased to announce our new line of                          office furniture. As a &quot; & [Customer Type] & &quot;customer, you are entitled to a &quot; & [Discount Pct] & &quot;% discount off our catalog prices.&quot; CanGrow: Yes Label: Name: Rest of Letter Caption: Call us today toll-free at (800) 555-1212 and receive a free full-color catalog detailing all our top-of-the-line office products. Label: Name: Closing Caption: Sincerely, Label: Name: Grant Caption: J. Grant Label: Name: Title Caption: Manager, Office Products

NOTE: You can press CTRL+ENTER to force new lines in controls. For example, the Closing, Grant, and Title labels can be combined into a single label control by pressing CTRL+ENTER at the end of each line in the Caption property:

<pre class="fixed_text">     Label: Name: Closing Caption: Sincerely, <press CTRL+ENTER> <press CTRL+ENTER> <press CTRL+ENTER> J. Grant <press CTRL+ENTER> Manager, Office Products </li></ol> </li> Size and position the controls on the report, and then set the font styles and sizes.</li> Save the report. Print or preview the report to see the results of the merge.</li></ol>

Summary and General Notes

 * Use label controls for all paragraphs with fixed text.
 * Use text box controls for all paragraphs with variable content.
 * Margins are determined by the width of the control. The text will wrap within the width of the control, not the width of the report.
 * The Name of a text box must be different from its field name in the table. If they are the same, the Name prints as a &quot;#Error?&quot; message.

Limitations

 * You cannot change the formatting of individual words. You can change only the formatting of the control.
 * You are limited to 255 characters in the ControlSource property of a text box. For long paragraphs, create one or more invisible text boxes to contain the text, then concatenate them in a visible text box.

Additional query words: mailmerge page header

Keywords: kbinfo KB98798

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