Merge into table cells from data in MS Excel 2000 (MS Word 2000 (9.0.6926 SP-3))

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How can I merge data from a source such as a MS Excel worksheet into the cells of a table?

I am making place cards & wish to merge each diners name into a cell in a table. The table is in two columns & there are ten rows. I want to merge into cells 3 & 4, 7 & 8, 11 & 12, 15 & 16 and 19 & 20. So diner 1 would be merged into cell 3, diner 2 into cell 4, diner 3 into cell 7 and so on for as many diners as have booked in for a splendid function!.

At present the worksheet has a list of surnames in one coulumn & his & her names in a second column. As the cards are to name individuals I am planning to create a third column so that his & her will be in separate columns.

Can this be done? Or is there another way of achieving such a result?

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Are the two cells in one row always going to be populated from one row in the Excel sheet (with the same surname and two different first names)? If not, you should list each individual in the Excel sheet in a separate row.

The exact setup for the Word document depends on the above.

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Thank you for your reply & for drawing my attention to my oversight. The answer to your question has to be no as there are some single names that I had overlooked when asking my question. The majority are couples but there is a minority of single persons all in alphabetical order by surname.

Can you therefore guide me as to the setup I need to create?

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Could you attach a small sample workbook, with dummy data? It should contain both couples and singles.

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sample.xls attached.

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I’m afraid that is not a suitable format for a mail merge. If you want to use a file like this, you’d need VBA code to populate the labels. For a mail merge, one row should correspond to one diner.

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I can readily change the data source to one person per row. This task occurs seven or eight times a year & the invitation list varies little. That is not my problem.

What I can’t figure out is how to get the data into cells in a Word table. Is it possible without a macro?

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Yes, that is possible without a macro. The attached zip file contains a modified Excel workbook with one person per row, and a Word document with a table consisting of 2 columns and 10 rows. It appears to be blank when you open the document, but if you display field codes (Alt+F9), you will see how MergeFields and Next fields are used (press Alt+F9 again to hide field codes).

Open the document from the zip file.
Select Tools | Mail Merge…
Specify that you are going to create labels, and are going to use the current document.
Then specify the Excel workbook as the data source (the address list)
Finally, merge to a new document to see the result.

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Hans,

My thanks for your help. I now understand how Word Fields work. My Word 2000 book deals with this topic in less than two pages (out of 844) by giving examples of customising Form Letters. It was treating the table as labels that makes it so plain.

It is said that it’s hard work teaching an old dog new tricks. How true!

Thank you again,

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> you will see how … Next fields are used
Much obliged.

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