Mail Merge with Word

[brandie]

Hi all,

We've been very happy using FileMaker so far, and really don't want to go through the process of converting everything over to Access. But we really need Merging features - and I'm afraid I'm not finding what I'm looking for. Before I give up - I hope you can help point me in the right direction. :

Merging features between Word and Access allow you to link to "active" data - so if you revise things in the database, they will flow through to the Word document. Obviously, if you export a .mer or .dbf file from FMP, that source file will not update when you make revisions to the database - thus the "link" is broken between Word and FMP.

When I go into the Mail Merge Wizard in Word, the list of file types that I'm allowed to use does not include .fp7. Does this mean that there's no way to have an "active" link between Word and FMP? Can you only export, and just have to export again whenever the data changes?

Thanks for your help in advance.

[wallabri]

To merge with Word via script, I can recommend two ways, both using external programs and for Windows only.

http://www.chapsoft.com/ezxslt/ gives you a way to create xml stylesheets via their program and you can create everything from letters to reports. It is easy to use.

I created a program called fmp2word that takes a field from filemaker with the word doc name and field values and substitutes that into a standard word document with bookmarks where the data is to be located. This only works with data from single records (ie a single document, not a mail merge for 50 names and addresses.)

Let me know if you are interested in my program.

[brandie]

Thanks for your help wallabri. I'm checking out the Chapsoft product and have emailed their folks to clarify a couple of questions that I had about it.

Your program that you created may help us to some degree, but we need the ability to work with both single records and a set, of say, 5 records. Not a ton, but obviously just more than one. I'll keep you in mind though in case we find that one is better than nothing. :)