Word 2010 Mail Merges Margins

[hlewton]

I have used mail merges for a long time and recently I made a slight change to them. I took out the postal code but nothing else has changed even though I had to make all new merges. I have known for a lot of years that the fields I use are not inside the normal margins but apparently now I can’t make Word 2010 understand that. If I use the merge I have to answer the dialog box you’ll see in the attachment for every page that is created by the merge when I Finish & Merge and create Individual Documents. 5 pages are created and I have to reply to the dialog box 5 times. I have tried making the original merge document know I want it to print even though text is outside the margins but I can’t seem to get it to save that way so I am not continually being required to answer the dialog box. Can I somehow tell the merge document that it is OK to print, save it that way, and not be asked in the future? Somehow I must have done it this way in the past but since I made new merge documents without the postal code I am asked continually. I just checked and my old merges do not ask me to respond to that dialog box but I haven’t found a way to make the new merges act the same.

Thanks.

Margins.jpg

[HansV]

The only way that I know of to suppress the 'outside the printable area' warning is through VBA; there is no way to suppress it using the Word interface as far as I know. There must be some other difference between the old and new merge documents...

[hlewton]

The only thing I remember is when I first made them I printed out the document with just the merge fields showing as the text. When I first printed it I OK'd that dialog box, saved the document, and was never again asked for it or the merged documents it created. I looked at the page layout and I saw where I could make those margins the default but I have never had to nor do I want to do that. I do know this I wouldn't know VBA so that is not the difference. I may try recreating them again, printing that document, answering "yes" and then saving it. Either that or maybe open the old ones and remove the postal code from each label and save it to see if that works for me.

[hlewton]

I just was thinking. These merges are designed around Avery 5161 labels. Why would that dialog box pop up? That is the standard margins for that label. Also when I made the old ones maybe I never got that dialog box. I was just assuming I did because they do print without it popping up now.

[HansV]

Is the new merge document still set for Avery 5161?

[hlewton]

As far as I know it is. I'm not sure how it would have been changed or even how to check that. It looks like 5161 labels as it should. I choose the labels before I do anything else when creating a merge document. Actually I don't know any other way of doing it.

Just remembered that after I answered that dialog box 5 times it printed out fine on the 5161 labels so I have to say yes is set correctly.

[macropod]

The problem is that the Avery 5161 label requires page margins of 1/6in, but most printers require at least 1/4in. The warning is because your current printer requires a greater margin than the label requires. There is a simple fix, however. In the mailmerge main document:
1. Increase the left & right margins to, say 1/2in.
2. Change the table Alignment from Left to Center
Done. You should no be able to merge & print without getting the printer warnings. Do be careful to not format your labels with any content less than 1/4in from the left & right page boundaries. As an aid to that, you might decrease the label widths, or increase their 'outer' margins, by at least 1/12in.

[hlewton]

The problem is that the Avery 5161 label requires page margins of 1/6in, but most printers require at least 1/4in. The warning is because your current printer requires a greater margin than the label requires. There is a simple fix, however. In the mailmerge main document:
1. Increase the left & right margins to, say 1/2in.
2. Change the table Alignment from Left to Center
Done. You should no be able to merge & print without getting the printer warnings. Do be careful to not format your labels with any content less than 1/4in from the left & right page boundaries. As an aid to that, you might decrease the label widths, or increase their 'outer' margins, by at least 1/12in.

Thank you. I have to say that I'm not sure I understand all of this yet but I will look into it. Still I have to wonder why the old mail merges I have, that by the way date back to Office 97, still work and print fine on the same printer. They too use 5161 labels so, I would think, require the same margins. I do know I never changed any margins so I wonder why they work. I am going to play around with them and see if I can make the changes you mentioned in a way that will still allow the labels to print out correctly.

The one problem I think I see already is that my merge fields do begin immediately inside the left edge of the label so changing the margins may be a problem. I think I would either have to edit each line of each label to move them to the right or start all over and include a space before each merge field that begins on the left side of the document if I am understanding you correctly. Again, thanks.

[macropod]

have to wonder why the old mail merges I have, that by the way date back to Office 97, still work and print fine on the same printer. They too use 5161 labels so, I would think, require the same margins.

Simply put, it's because the drivers you're using now are different and have come with different parameters for the printable area.

The one problem I think I see already is that my merge fields do begin immediately inside the left edge of the label so changing the margins may be a problem. I think I would either have to edit each line of each label to move them to the right or start all over and include a space before each merge field that begins on the left side of the document if I am understanding you correctly.

My previous reply already addresses that issue, offering you two options for dealing with it. Even then, you'll only need to do so if, in practice, anything gets cut off.

[hlewton]

have to wonder why the old mail merges I have, that by the way date back to Office 97, still work and print fine on the same printer. They too use 5161 labels so, I would think, require the same margins.

Simply put, it's because the drivers you're using now are different and have come with different parameters for the printable area.

The one problem I think I see already is that my merge fields do begin immediately inside the left edge of the label so changing the margins may be a problem. I think I would either have to edit each line of each label to move them to the right or start all over and include a space before each merge field that begins on the left side of the document if I am understanding you correctly.

My previous reply already addresses that issue, offering you two options for dealing with it. Even then, you'll only need to do so if, in practice, anything gets cut off.

Thanks I was just returning here to say what I have done. First let me say that I think I accomplished exactly what you were saying to do. Not sure I went about it the way you would have but the outcome I believe is either the same or close to the same. I opened the merge document, went to page layout, then when exiting that it asked if I wanted to fix the margins and I choose yes. That seems to have corrected the problem.

Thanks for your help.

[macropod]

No, that is not what I suggested. It will get you part of the way, but you'll still need to fix the table alignment and, possibly, its width or internal margins.

[hlewton]

No, that is not what I suggested. It will get you part of the way, but you'll still need to fix the table alignment and, possibly, its width or internal margins.

1. Increase the left & right margins to, say 1/2in.
2. Change the table Alignment from Left to Center

Well I'm going to sound dumb but I have to say I have tried very unsuccessfully to do what you suggest and I have no idea how to do it. I think I have successfully changed the left and right margins to 1/2 inch but I cannot figure out how to change the table Alignment from left to center as you suggest. I managed to get the table selected and chose the Top, Center alignment but all that did is moved all the text to the center of the label and that is not at all what I want.

This is the best I came up with in doing a WEB search and it is of little help.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word- ... ?section=5 and it is for Word 2007.

Do you have a link to instructions on how these suggestion of yours are done? I can't seem to find anything that works to do as you say. Sorry to say but I am confused by what you mean when you say, "Change the table Alignment from Left to Center." All I seem cable of doing, as I mentioned, is centering the text in the table inside each label and I really don't think that is what you meant.

[macropod]

To change the table:
• alignment, click on the table, then Table Tools>Layout>Properties>Table>Centre.
• margins, click on the table, then Table Tools>Layout>Properties>Table>Options.
• column widths, click on the table column, then Table Tools>Cell Size>Width and enter a new value.

[hlewton]

Thank you. I will give this a try.

Thanks again. Your steps were a great help and I have now made those adjustments but am still getting that dialog box that I must reply to.

[macropod]

still getting that dialog box that I must reply to

That suggests your margins haven't been fixed. Are you making these changes to the mailmerge main document, as originally advised, and saving them afterwards?

[hlewton]

still getting that dialog box that I must reply to

That suggests your margins haven't been fixed. Are you making these changes to the mailmerge main document, as originally advised, and saving them afterwards?

I am doing that as far as making the changes to the mailmerge main document but I did try printing it before saving it. I am not at home where I can check now but if you think saving will make a difference I will give it a try. What I did was I ran the left and right margins in increments from .17 that it was originally to .5 and each time I would make sure the table was centered. Then I would try printing and each time I got that dialog box. I will try saving the file and see if that makes a difference but I won't be able to do that until Sunday at the earliest.

[hlewton]

Yes after making the changes then saving it first before trying to print made the difference.