posssible to merge data into bottom of address label?

Factual Questions
1

I have word document formatted as a three collum table that I use to print sticker labels. They aren’t address labels. They are stickers to put inside books with the name, logo and contact info of the dispributor on the top half information about the particular book.

I would like to do a merge data into these labels like a mail merge. But its not address information. Also, the data has to merge into the bottom half of each cell without messing up the positioning of the top half.

I thought maybe I could insert something like a page header or footer into each cell so that when the data merges into the first few lines of each cell, it goes in under the static content.

I couldn’t get this to work.

Any suggestions?

2

An inelegant solution would be to add another column to your data table, and repeat the boiler plate info for each label., i.e. make it the fourth item to be merged.

3

What you have is a template to make labels. In that template, why can’t you just create a source document that contains the information you want to add, put the merge fields that represent that information under the other lines of existing information, and then merge them into a new document? There’s no need to put a page header or footer into each sticker, which you can’t do anyway.

It seems really easy to me - I do something similar all the time - so I am not sure if I’m misunderstanding your problem.

4

Doing what missbunny suggests was quite easy in Word 97 but is much harder to figure out in Word 2003.

akohl, what software are you using?

5

Thank you Keno, missbunny and Exapno Mapcase. Thanks for helping. I feel very “supported” here.

I think I understood this. Tell me if I got it right. Basically I group the content of the top half of each label, the logo and the contact details text, into an image. I place a copy of that image in every line of collum number one in my excel sheet, which will serve as my data source for the merge. Then, in collum two and three I dump the book information which will get merged into the individual book labels.

I don’t think I get what you’re suggesting. Maybe I don’t understand how templates work. Or maybe I don’t understand how label merges work. Unfortunately, I can’t test this now cause I’m not at work and the computer I’m using now doesn’t have any version of ms Word. But from what I remember at work, when you do a merge for labels, you don’t get to place a merge field somewhere on the document underneath lines of exisiting information. You just tell the merge wizzard where to find the addresses. Then you click “merge now” and word goes ahead and composes your label placing the data in the first field on the first line, the second on the second line and so on. It doesn’t give you a chance to put the data from the first field after underneath existing lines of content like with form letters.

Or does it?

We are unsing office 2000 on windows 98.

6

I just got done doing a mail merge that involved my typing in my return address so that it would appear in the proper spot in the corner of a series of labels. I wrote down the steps. This is for Word 2003, so I can’t guarantee that all the steps will be the same - or even that this will work at all in 2000. If you can’t do what I list, the you’ll just have to see if an equivalent commend exists.

I’m putting down all the steps in order, even if they seem obvious, because I know from experience how easy it is to make assumptions about what someone else is or isn’t seeing.

From the menu, select Tools/Letters & Mailings/Mail Merge.

Make sure Mail Merge Toolbar is checked. (Or do this from View/Toolbars.) [If there is no Mail Merge toolbar, then this won’t work]

Select Labels

Click on Starting Document

Click on Label Options to select the labels you want

Click on Select Recipients to say where you want your merging data to come from.

When you do that a page will appear with a <<Next Record>> field in all the label positions except the first. You can now type in the static information in that first empty label space.

Then go to the Merge Menu toolbar. Click on Insert Merge Fields. A box will appear with all the possible fields to merge. Click on any you want. Each field will appear where your cursor was. You can also use the space bar, return key, or Ctrl+Tab to move the fields around. You have to close the box to do this and then open it up again to get another field.

When you get all the merge fields entered and set up the way you want it to print out, Click on Arrange Your Labels.

At the bottom there will be a button marked “Update all labels.” By clicking this you put both the static information and the merge data into every label the same way.

Then you just continue normally to the end. After you click on Complete the Merge, you have the option to Edit Individual Labels. Here you can make any last minute changes before you print.
Not exactly intuitively obvious, is it? Even with the help of a Word 2003 manual it took me some trial and error before I figured out what to do when.

I hope this is close enough to the way it works in Office 2000 to make it all work