Mail merge and Hyperlinks

Question

I am creating a big letter merge in Word from an Excel spreadsheet (both office 365), creating personalized invitations to a number of events. I would like to add hyperlinks to webpages for specific events and am having trouble.

The Excel spreadsheet is set up in a way that removes any events that individuals are not invited to and then only text for only the relevant events in the merge fields.  Each merge field in the letter merge document could relate to several different events so it is not possible to add hyperlinks within the merge field codes.

Is there a way I can add hyperlinks to specific words within the mail merge using find and replace/ Quick parts or some similar method (I am not a coder)?

Thanks for any assistance.

Answer 1

As regards the hyperlinks, I don't think I can do what I hoped without becoing a coder as the hyperlink would be neither in the body test of the mail merge nor an seperate URL link in a cell in the worksheet.

In that case, you could probably do it via field coding. For example:

{HYPERLINK "{IF{MERGEFIELD Event}= "Theatre" "https://www.theatre.com"}{IF{MERGEFIELD Event}= "Art Gallery" "http://www.artgallery.com"}{IF{MERGEFIELD Event}= "Sightseeing Tour" "https://www.A2ZCitytours.com"}{IF{MERGEFIELD Event}= "Zoo" "https://www.StateZoo.com"}"}

or:

{HYPERLINK "{IF«Event»= "Theatre" "https://www.theatre.com"}{IF«Event»= "Art Gallery" "http://www.artgallery.com"}{IF«Event»= "Sightseeing Tour" "https://www.A2ZCitytours.com"}{IF«Event»= "Zoo" "https://www.StateZoo.com"}"}

Note: The field brace pairs (i.e. '{ }') for the above examples are all created in the document itself, via Ctrl-F9 (Cmd-F9 on a Mac); you can't simply type them or copy & paste them from this message. Nor is it practical to add them via any of the standard Word dialogues. Likewise, the chevrons (i.e. '« »') are part of the actual mergefields - which you can insert from the 'Insert Merge Field' dropdown (i.e. you can't type or copy & paste them from this message, either). The spaces represented in the field constructions are all required.

Answer 2

If you store the hyperlink path for each event in the data source, just as you're now doing for the event names, it's quite possible to generate a mailmerge that not only has the hyperlinks but does so with the event name for the display. See Mailmerge Hyperlink ‘Click Here’ Insertion in the Mailmerge Tips and Tricks thread at:

http://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-merge/21803-mailmerge-tips-tricks.html

or:

http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread.php/163017-Word-Mailmerge-Tips-amp-Tricks

Answer 3

Excel will, though, let you insert a hyperlink in a separate column so it is not part of anything.

Field calculations can be every bit as complex as writing macros. Paul (macropod) is a master at it though. It is worth taking the time to learn at least the basics.

Answer 4

Will the hyperlinks always be the same or will they change over time?

Answer 5

What is the format you want for the hyperlinks?

Simple URLs are a snap and you could use AutoFormat to convert them into actual hyperlinks.

If you need something with hyperlinked text, that is a bit more.

i.e.

Templates in Microsoft Word as a hyperlink for http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm.

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