Idiotic word/excel questions
Discussion
Hi people,
I am having some trouble with word and excel, and integrating text from one into the other.
I'm trying to modify an avery business card template (8 per page), so that information i've got in an excel spreadsheet can be put straight into the template.
So, in excel i have a chart with, in this case:
artists names, painting names, size, media, size, and reference number.
I'd like these to copy straight across into this layout:
(Artist name)
(Painting Name)
(Size)
(Medium)
(Size)
(and in much smaller text, at the bottom right, a reference number) 006 - 057.
I am having several problems doing this:
1. I am a fool
2. I do not know how to get information from excel laid out right, or indeed into word at all in the style i'd like.
3. If i do crack this, i'm also concerned as i only need one business card per work, but surely the template will print a page (ie 8) of the same card...?
Can someone help me?
I apologise for my ineptitude, but any help would make my life so much easier!
I am having some trouble with word and excel, and integrating text from one into the other.
I'm trying to modify an avery business card template (8 per page), so that information i've got in an excel spreadsheet can be put straight into the template.
So, in excel i have a chart with, in this case:
artists names, painting names, size, media, size, and reference number.
I'd like these to copy straight across into this layout:
(Artist name)
(Painting Name)
(Size)
(Medium)
(Size)
(and in much smaller text, at the bottom right, a reference number) 006 - 057.
I am having several problems doing this:
1. I am a fool
2. I do not know how to get information from excel laid out right, or indeed into word at all in the style i'd like.
3. If i do crack this, i'm also concerned as i only need one business card per work, but surely the template will print a page (ie 8) of the same card...?
Can someone help me?
I apologise for my ineptitude, but any help would make my life so much easier!
Yep, Mail Merge is the function you need.
For this you need two items:
1) Your "Main Document" (ie the printing template)
2) The Data Source
Your Excel file is fine for the Data Source. You don't need to format it, as that takes place in the template. All you will need to do with the Excel file is re-order the entries (if indeed you even need to).
Now assuming that you have a recent version of MS Word, the odds are that it will do everything that you want (including printing eight different cards on one sheet).
- First, check that there is the correct label template. Type some random text, then go to "Tools/Labels..." You can sift through a range of templates with the correct Avery codes. If your version is not there, you need to create a custom version (which you can give the correct Avery name). You need a ruler, and some spare sheets, to measure it up and print some checks. Just in case, you should save this document temporarily (as Doc1.doc) to ensure the settings get embedded in Word - once in there, you can delete this document.
- With this done, you now need to set up your Main Document to print your business cards. Start a new document, and go straight to "Tools/MailMerge". Exactly how this will work will depend on which MSWord version you have - you may get a MailMerge palette or a Wizard. If you have it to hand, the manual will be useful.
1- Start your Main Document. Select the option for labels. Select the correct label type (or your custom design). If you are lucky (my Office X for Mac, 2001, does it, but Office 98 does it differently), this will create a sheet of labels with "next record" in each label space. This will apppear like a classic Word table
2- Now select your data source. With luck it will work out what the fields are, but it may ask you to set them up.
3- You Main document should now be filled with fields (<<Artist Name>>, etc.). Save this
4- In each cell of the table, you now need to use "Format/Font" on each field. As normal, you can set Font, size, colour, and centre it or whatever. If you have two fields on one line, remember to add spaces and punctuation where necessary. Also, make sure you do a test with the longest text line (e.g. the longest painting name - if in your Excel file you use Column autofit, you will spot which one is longest). You will want to run some test prints, to check how it looks. Be sure to cut out the cards to be sure that the position is right and the same on all of the cards on a sheet (if not, this suggests your business card template is not perfect).
5- Finally, select "Merge to printer" and run the first page. If it has worked, print the whole damned lot
It will take time to get right, but at least you have the data source sorted. So it should take about an hour to get to the point where you are ready to print, but there will be a bit of exploration and 'taking a punt'
For this you need two items:
1) Your "Main Document" (ie the printing template)
2) The Data Source
Your Excel file is fine for the Data Source. You don't need to format it, as that takes place in the template. All you will need to do with the Excel file is re-order the entries (if indeed you even need to).
Now assuming that you have a recent version of MS Word, the odds are that it will do everything that you want (including printing eight different cards on one sheet).
- First, check that there is the correct label template. Type some random text, then go to "Tools/Labels..." You can sift through a range of templates with the correct Avery codes. If your version is not there, you need to create a custom version (which you can give the correct Avery name). You need a ruler, and some spare sheets, to measure it up and print some checks. Just in case, you should save this document temporarily (as Doc1.doc) to ensure the settings get embedded in Word - once in there, you can delete this document.
- With this done, you now need to set up your Main Document to print your business cards. Start a new document, and go straight to "Tools/MailMerge". Exactly how this will work will depend on which MSWord version you have - you may get a MailMerge palette or a Wizard. If you have it to hand, the manual will be useful.
1- Start your Main Document. Select the option for labels. Select the correct label type (or your custom design). If you are lucky (my Office X for Mac, 2001, does it, but Office 98 does it differently), this will create a sheet of labels with "next record" in each label space. This will apppear like a classic Word table
2- Now select your data source. With luck it will work out what the fields are, but it may ask you to set them up.
3- You Main document should now be filled with fields (<<Artist Name>>, etc.). Save this
4- In each cell of the table, you now need to use "Format/Font" on each field. As normal, you can set Font, size, colour, and centre it or whatever. If you have two fields on one line, remember to add spaces and punctuation where necessary. Also, make sure you do a test with the longest text line (e.g. the longest painting name - if in your Excel file you use Column autofit, you will spot which one is longest). You will want to run some test prints, to check how it looks. Be sure to cut out the cards to be sure that the position is right and the same on all of the cards on a sheet (if not, this suggests your business card template is not perfect).
5- Finally, select "Merge to printer" and run the first page. If it has worked, print the whole damned lot
It will take time to get right, but at least you have the data source sorted. So it should take about an hour to get to the point where you are ready to print, but there will be a bit of exploration and 'taking a punt'
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