Mail Merge data from multiple columns from Excel into Word table in rows

Question

Hi Microsoft Community,

I am hoping that there is someone out there who has had success with what I am trying to achieve. I am using exported student absence data from a Learner Management System that I have successfully played around with to get it ready to Mail Merge into Word using a pre-existing template. There are two types of data that I am trying to import, one that creates a whole day absence and the other where a list of which lessons a student hasn't attended is created. I have provided screenshots of both what the data looks like in Excel and what I am wanting it to look like in Word.

I have a fairly good understanding of Word, Excel and how to do a simple Mail Merge, so if you are responding, you may need to make the instructions fairly simple so that I can follow exactly what to do. If you have any other suggests about either the Excel data or Word template, then I am flexible with what these end up looking like.

Thanks in advance.

Michael

Answer 1

I am not sure what the raw data looks like, but if it were, or could be manipulated into the following format

The Many to One facility on my Merge Tools Add-in should be able to produce a document of the type that you are after (or at least with a bit of customization, it could)

You can download the MergeTools – 20150422.dotm Add-in that I created from the following page of my One Drive: http://bit.ly/1hduSCB

The MergeTools – 20150422.dotm file needs to be saved in the Word Startup folder.  In Windows Vista and Windows 7, 8 or 8.1, the default location for that folder is

C:\Users[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP

If you do not see the AppData folder: -

In Windows 7, - In Windows Explorer, click on the Organize drop down and then on Folder and search options and in the Folder Options dialog, go to the View tab and select the item "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".  While there, it is a good idea to uncheck the box of "Hide extensions for known file types".

In Windows 8 and 8.1, in the File Explorer, click on Options on the View tab of the ribbon and then on the View tab in the dialog that appears and select the item "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".  While there, it is a good idea to uncheck the box of "Hide extensions for known file types".

When that has been done and Word is started\re-started, the tab shown below will be added to the Ribbon:

The requirements for using the system are:

1. The mail merge main document must be of the Letter type, though that does not mean that the output cannot be sent as an e-mail message.
2. For the Many To One, Merge with Attachments and Merge to Individual Docs utilities, the data source may be either a table or query in an Access database, or in the form of an Excel worksheet and that worksheet must be the first sheet in the Excel workbook. If the data is on some other sheet, you can easily move that sheet so that it is the first sheet in the workbook by clicking on the sheet tab and dragging it to the left.  For the Chart Merge utility, download the Mail Merging with Charts document that is also on that page of my OneDrive for additional requirements of the data source for use with that utility
3. For a data source in the form of an Excel worksheet, the field names must be in the first row of the worksheet and there must be a field name in all of the cells in that row that are within the range of columns that contain the data.
4. For both types of data source, the field names must contain only alphanumeric characters (No @,#,$,%,&,(,), etc) and the field names must not start with a numeric character (0-9). The number of characters in the field names, including spaces, must not be more than 40.
5. For a data source in the form of an Excel worksheet, the data must start in the second row of the worksheet and there should be no empty rows within the range of data that is to be processed.

NOTE: The MergeTools applications cannot handle “Compound” MergeFields such as the «AddressBlock» or «GreetingLine».  Instead of using those fields, you will need to insert the individual merge fields.

You may also want to download:

1. the Merging with Attachments document that is also on that page which explains how the system is used.  It is not actually necessary to have separate attachments as the facility can be used to send just the documents created by the merge itself as attachments, either as the body of the message itself or in the form of Word files or .pdf files.
2. the Mail Merging with Charts document that is also on that page.  That document explains how you must set up the Excel Data Source and the Mail Merge Main document to be able to execute a merge with a Chart that is unique to each record in the data source.
3. the Using the Many to One Facility document that describes how to use that facility.

Answer 2

Hi Doug,

Thank you very much for the detailed response that you provided. I am working my through your instructions and have downloaded the Merge Tools from the link to your OneDrive. I re-exported the original data from the LMS to Excel, which was exported as a CSV and then saved as XLS file. I'm hoping that you might be willing to take a look at it to see in order to get it to the format that you posted in your picture (I'm not 100% sure about how to this, other than changing the text to columns, I don't know how to get the data into rows). Would it be OK if I e-mail it either of your addresses in your response?

Any help that you can give will be greatly appreciated. 

Many thanks

Michael

Answer 3

Hi Michael,

You can use either of the email addresses in my signature.

Also send me a copy of the document into which you want to merge the information.