WD97: How to Convert WordPerfect Merge Data Documents to Word

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

Microsoft Word supports conversion of WordPerfect 5.x secondary merge files, but not conversion of WordPerfect 6.x secondary merge files.

MORE INFORMATION

A WordPerfect 6.x document can be opened in Word 97, provided the WordPerfect 6.x import converter has been installed. However, the format of an imported secondary file is not valid as a Word 97 data document unless you edit it prior to performing a mail merge.

Word 97 supports direct conversion of secondary files from WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1 for MS-DOS and WordPerfect 5.1 and 5.2 for Windows. Word 97 can use the imported secondary file in a mail merge. To use a WordPerfect 5.x secondary file, simply open the file in Word 97, or access the file in a mail merge.

WordPerfect 5.x Secondary files and Word 97

WordPerfect 6.x Secondary Files and Word 97

How to Import a WordPerfect Secondary File

WordPerfect 5.x:

1. Open the secondary file in WordPerfect and determine whether the records are in the correct format. Each record should appear on a separate page and should have the same number of {END FIELD} codes. If any record contains fewer {END FIELD} codes than any other record, the record contains fewer data categories than the other records. This format causes an error if used in a Word merge unless an {END FIELD} code is inserted as a place holder for each missing data category of information in each record.



2. Create a new WordPerfect document.



3. Type one quotation mark ("), click Merge on the Tools menu and select Field.



4. In the Insert Merge Code Box, type a 1 (The 1 corresponds to the first field and so on) click OK. The result is the text "{Field}1~ in the document.



5. Type one quotation mark, which encloses the field in quotation marks, and type a comma in order to separate the field from the next field that will be inserted. Do not press the ENTER key between fields.



6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each field in the secondary file. You should also enclose the last field that is inserted in quotation marks; it should not be followed by a comma.



7. After inserting all the fields such that they are enclosed in quotation marks and separated by commas, press ENTER once and save the file with the name Newmain.wpd. An example of the file might look like (where <HARD RETURN> represents pressing ENTER once):




"{Field}1~","{Field}2~","{Field}3~"<HARD RETURN>

8. To merge the previously created secondary file, click Merge on the Tools menu, select Merge, type the name of the new primary file, Newmain.wpd, in the Primary File box, type the name of the existing secondary file in the secondary File box, and click OK.



9. Save the file with a new name, and then open the file in Word.



10. If the first line of text in the merged file contains text other than actual data, select the entire first line of text and press ENTER once. (This deletes the existing first line of text, and moves the data to the first line in the file.)



11. Click Replace on the Edit menu, click the Clear button if it is available. Place the insertion point in the Find What box, type "^d" (without the quotation marks. Clear any text or spaces in the Replace With box. Click Replace All and close the Replace box.



12. Place the insertion point at the beginning of the document in front of the quotation mark before the first record and press ENTER once. Move the insertion point back up to the empty paragraph that was created by pressing the ENTER key and type the name of each field. Enclose each field name in quotation marks and separate it with commas. Be sure not to forget to type any of the names of the fields. There should be as many field names as there are {END FIELD} codes for a record in the WordPerfect secondary file. For example, the first line of text (called a header record followed by data) might look like:

    "firstname","lastname","address","city","state","zip"<HARD RETURN>
    "Jane","Doe","One Main Street","Seattle","WA","98101"<HARD RETURN>

    No spaces, punctuation, slashes, or dashes are allowed in the header record. No blank lines or text should appear before the header record.



13. Save the file.

WordPerfect 6.x:

1. Create a new WordPerfect document.



2. On the Tools menu, click Merge, and then click Form.



3. In the Associate A Data File box, type the name of the previously created data document and click OK.



4. Type one quotation mark (").



5. Click Insert Field and select and insert a field in the list.



6. Type another quotation mark to enclose the field in quotation marks. Then type one comma (,).



7. Type another quotation mark, select another field and insert it.



8. Type another quotation mark and type a comma.



9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for each field. You should also enclose the last field that you insert in quotation marks, but should not follow it with a comma.



10. After inserting all the field names such that they are enclosed in quotation marks and separated by commas, press ENTER once. For example, the file might look as follows (note that ENTER was pressed once only after the last field name was inserted):

    "FIELD(firstname)","FIELD(lastname)","FIELD(address)",
    "FIELD(city)","FIELD(state)","FIELD(zip)"<HARD RETURN>

    No spaces, punctuation, slashes, or dashes are allowed in the header record. No blank lines or text should appear before the header record.



11. Click Merge, and then click Merge in the dialog box.



12. Click Options, and click to clear the "Separate Each Merged Document with a Page Break" option. Click OK twice.



13. Place the insertion point before the quotation mark in front of the first word in the document and press ENTER.



14. Move the insertion point back to the first blank paragraph created in the previous step and type the name of each field where each field name is enclosed in quotation marks and separated by commas. Be sure not to forget to type any of the names of the inserted fields. For example, a one-record data file might look as follows:




"firstname","lastname","address","city","state","zip"<HARD RETURN>
"Jane","Doe","One Main Street","Seattle","WA","98101"<HARD RETURN>

15. Save the file.

   First {TAB} Last {TAB} Address {TAB} City {TAB} State {TAB}
   Zip {HARD RETURN}
   Sam {TAB} Elliot {TAB} 3499 Green Hills Rd. {TAB} Beverly Hills {TAB}
   CA {TAB} 98830 {HARD RETURN}
   Kate {TAB} Simmons {TAB} 1104 Calvary St. {TAB} Hampton {TAB} VA {TAB}
   11101 {HARD RETURN} 

1. Open the WordPerfect secondary merge file in Word.



2. View the document and determine whether the records are in the correct format. Each record should appear on a separate page and should have the same number of tabs. (Turn on non printing characters if you cannot see tabs, which look like gray arrows.) If a record contains a paragraph mark that is not at the end of the last field but is between data fields, delete the paragraph and press the TAB key once. If a record has fewer tabs than any other record, the record contains fewer data categories than the other records. You must determine which data category is missing in the record, place the cursor at that location, and insert a tab as a placeholder.



3. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and change the paper size to custom, 20" width and 20" length.



4. On the Edit menu, click Replace, and replace Page Breaks with two percent signs as follows. Click Replace All.




In the Find What box, type: ^m

In the Replace box, type: %%

5. On the Edit menu, click Replace, and replace paragraph markers with nothing as follows. Click Replace All.




In the Find What box, type: ^p

In the Replace box:

6. On the Edit menu, click Replace, and replace the two percent signs with a paragraph marker as follows. Click Replace All.




In the Find What box, type: %%

In the Replace box, type: ^p

7. Save the file with a new file name in order to preserve the original file. The file should now look like each line contains only one record. Each record should begin with the same field information.



8. Insert a header record as the very first record in the data file, where each field name is separated from the others by a tab.
   
   A header record inserted at the top of a data file might appear like this (non printing characters are not noted):

   
         name           address                city         state  zip
         Sam Elliott    3499 Green Hills Rd.   Beverly Hills   CA  98830
         Kate Simmons   1104 Calvary St.       Hampton         VA  11101 

   No spaces, punctuation, slashes, or dashes are allowed in the header record. No blank lines or text should appear before the header record.



9. Once the header record is inserted, save the file.

WordPerfect Mail Merge Formats

WordPerfect 6.x Secondary Merge File Format

   FIELDNAMES(Name;Address)ENDRECORD
   (Hard Page Break)
   Mary Jane DoeENDFIELD
   Seattle, WashingtonENDFIELD
   END RECORD
   (hard page break) 

WordPerfect 5.x Secondary Merge File Format

   {FIELD NAMES}Name~Address~~{END RECORD}
   (Hard Page Break)
   Mary Jane Doe{END FIELD}
   Seattle, Washington{END FIELD}
   {END RECORD}
   (hard page break) 

• You could insert hard returns following each field name at the beginning of a secondary merge document so that the field names appear aligned down the left column in the same manner as the actual field entries appear by default. In such a case, the example above would instead appear as:




      {FIELD NAMES}
      Name~
      Address~
      ~{END RECORD}
      {Hard Page Break}
      Mary Jane Doe{END FIELD}
      Seattle, Washington{END FIELD}
      {END RECORD} 

• You could remove the hard returns that normally follow each {END FIELD} code so that each data record appears horizontally across the page in the same manner as the field names do by default. In such a case, the example above would instead appear as:




      {FIELD NAMES}Name~Address~~{END RECORD}
      (Hard Page Break)
      Mary Jane Doe{END FIELD}Seattle, Washington{END FIELD}{END RECORD} 

• You could reverse the layout of both field names and field entries. In such a case, the example above would instead appear as:




      {FIELD NAMES}
      Name~
      Address~
      ~{END RECORD}
      (Hard Page Break)
      Mary Jane Doe{END FIELD}Seattle, Washington{END FIELD}{END RECORD} 

• You could not include any field name definitions in the secondary merge document, and instead simply make reference to each field in the primary document based on its field number. Depending on the horizontal or vertical (default) layout chosen for field entries, they are numbered in a record either from top to bottom or from left to right. In the example above, Name is field 1 and Address is field 2, and the secondary merge file would appear by default as:




      Mary Jane Doe{END FIELD}
      Seattle, Washington{END FIELD}
      {END RECORD}
      (hard page break) 

WordPerfect 5.0 Secondary Merge File Format

   ^N
   Name^R
   Address^R
   ^E
   Mary Jane Doe^R
   Seattle, Washington^R
   ^E 

Q65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

Q60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P

Q60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word Developer's Conference" manual, (c) 1991, Microsoft Corporation

"WordPerfect for IBM Personal Computers" for WordPerfect 5.0 for MS-DOS, (c) 1988 Corel Corporation

"WordPerfect for IBM Personal Computers and PC Networks," for WordPerfect 5.1 for MS-DOS, (c) 1990 Corel Corporation

"Reference for Computers Running Windows 3.0 or Higher" for WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows, (c) 1991 Corel Corporation

Additional query words: primary secondary link print 8.0 8.00

Keywords : kbualink97 kbdta kbconversion winword word97
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo