ACC: Creating Reports to Mail Merge Microsoft Access Data

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.

To use a mail merge with Microsoft Access data, you can export or copy your data to a word processor, or in Microsoft Access 2.0, 7.0 and 97, you can choose the Merge It button on the toolbar. However, you can also create a Microsoft Access report to generate mail-merge documents. This article shows a technique using a Microsoft Access report as the main document in a mail merge.

MORE INFORMATION

The following is an example of a business letter that you can create as a Microsoft Access report. All values in angled brackets (<>) are items that can be filled in during the mail merge:

   KB Advertising Agency

   <February 5th, 1993>

   <John Doe>
   <123 E. Main Street>
   <Middle Town, OH 44044>

   Dear <Mr. Doe>,

   We are pleased to announce our new line of office furniture. As a
   <valued> customer, you are entitled to a <10>% discount off our
   catalog prices.

   Call us today toll-free at (800) 555-1212 and receive a free
   full-color catalog detailing all our top-of-the-line office products.

   Sincerely,

   J. Grant
   Manager, Office Products

How to Create the Sample Mail Merge

1. Create a new, blank database.

2. Create the following new table and save it as Customer:

         Table: Customer
         ----------------------
         Field Name: Salutation
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: First Name
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: Last Name
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: Address
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: City
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: State
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: ZIP
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: Customer Type
            Data Type: Text
         Field Name: Discount Pct
            Data Type: Number
   
   

3. Open the table in Datasheet view and add the following records:

         Salu-   First  Last                                     Cust Disc
         tation  Name   Name   Address   City       St    ZIP    Type Pct
         -----------------------------------------------------------------
         Mr.     John   Doe    123 Main  Middleton  OH    44044  Valued 10
         Mrs.    Sally  White  52A Elm   Florence   KY    45123  Special 5
         Dr.     Fred   Weiss  Box 456   Camden     SC    29332  Super 25
   
   

4. Create a new report in Design view based on the Customer table:

   NOTE: Do not use a Microsoft Access Report Wizard to create this report.

       a. On the View menu, (or the Layout menu in version 1.x, or the Format
          menu in version 2.0), clear the check marks next to Report Header/
          Footer and Page Header/Footer to remove those sections from the
          report.
   

       b. Delete the label controls that are created by default with each text
          box control.
   

       c. Set the following properties of the report's Detail section:
   

            Section: Detail
            ---------------------------
            ForceNewPage: After Section
            CanGrow: Yes
   
       d. Add the following controls to the Detail section of the report:
   
            Label:
               Name: Company Label
               Caption: KB Advertising Agency
            Text Box:
               Name: Today's Date
               ControlSource: =Date()
               Format: Long Date
            Text Box:
               Name: Name Line
               ControlSource: =[First Name] & " " & [Last Name]
            Text Box:
               Name: Address Line
               ControlSource: =[Address]
            Text Box:
               Name: CSZ Line
               ControlSource: =[City] & ", " & [State] & " " & [ZIP]
            Text Box:
               Name: Salutation Line
               ControlSource: ="Dear "&[Salutation]&" "&[Last Name]&","
            Text Box:
               Name: Para 1
               ControlSource: ="We are pleased to announce our new line of
                              office furniture. As a " & [Customer Type] &
                              "customer, you are entitled to a " & [Discount
                              Pct] & "% discount off our catalog prices."
               CanGrow: Yes
            Label:
               Name: Rest of Letter
               Caption: Call us today toll-free at (800) 555-1212 and receive
                        a free full-color catalog detailing all our
                        top-of-the-line office products.
            Label:
               Name: Closing
               Caption: Sincerely,
            Label:
               Name: Grant
               Caption: J. Grant
            Label:
               Name: Title
               Caption: Manager, Office Products
   
       NOTE: You can press CTRL+ENTER to force new lines in controls. For
       example, the Closing, Grant, and Title labels can be combined into a
       single label control by pressing CTRL+ENTER at the end of each line in
       the Caption property:
   
         Label:
            Name: Closing
            Caption: Sincerely, <press CTRL+ENTER>
                     <press CTRL+ENTER>
                     <press CTRL+ENTER>
                     J. Grant <press CTRL+ENTER>
                     Manager, Office Products
   
   

5. Size and position the controls on the report, and then set the font styles and sizes.

6. Save the report. Print or preview the report to see the results of the merge.

• Use label controls for all paragraphs with fixed text.
• Use text box controls for all paragraphs with variable content.
• Margins are determined by the width of the control. The text will wrap within the width of the control, not the width of the report.
• The Name of a text box must be different from its field name in the table. If they are the same, the Name prints as a "#Error?" message.

Limitations

• You cannot change the formatting of individual words. You can change only the formatting of the control.
• You are limited to 255 characters in the ControlSource property of a text box. For long paragraphs, create one or more invisible text boxes to contain the text, then concatenate them in a visible text box.