Gayle Miller
asked on
Unable to go past page 1 in Word 2016 when using mail merge
I am using Word 2016, Windows 10, installed onto a new computer about two months ago. I am using several documents as templates that contain a mail merge to put new data into each one. These documents were not created using Word 2016, but have been working fine until now. As of yesterday all documents that have the mail merge will not go past page 1. I cannot see the rest of the pages and if I try to type past the bottom of page 1 nothing happens. If I open an old document that I created using this mail merge feature I have the same problem - I only see page 1. I just found out today that someone else I know is having the same problem - only page 1 on any documents created with mail merge. But others with the same setup as I have are having no problems at all. Microsoft support took a look and say they don't know why this is happening and they can't help me. I am out of ideas. Can anyone help?
GrahamSkan
Are you trying to design a new mail merge main document? If not, and you are at the stage of executing the merge, why are you trying to type into it? Just do the merge with the Finish button to get the output (documents, printout, fax or mail) filled with data from the datasource.
ASKER
No I am not designing a new document. I'm using an existing document. The merge fields come up and allow me to type into them and finish/merge without a problem. The problem is that even before I fill in the merge information the document is incomplete. It shows only the first page of the document. I can't get to any subsequent pages whether it's been merged or not. Even old documents that I created a long time ago using the merge information are now displaying only page 1 and will not advance to page 2. This is only occurring on documents where merge has been used. Regular documents do not seem to be affected.
Try running a FULL repair (not quick) on Office. Restart and test
It still isn't clear what you are doing.
If you are trying to use Word's Mail Merge functionality, you must design the Main document, which involves choosing a document type, then the datasource. You then lay out the text, including merge fields that correspond to fields in the datasource.
The Main document has a template-like function, thought it is not a Template in the Word sense, so will need an extension of .docx. To fill the data in, you normally need only to open a Main document and execute the merge. There is no typing involved at this stage,
If you are trying to use Word's Mail Merge functionality, you must design the Main document, which involves choosing a document type, then the datasource. You then lay out the text, including merge fields that correspond to fields in the datasource.
The Main document has a template-like function, thought it is not a Template in the Word sense, so will need an extension of .docx. To fill the data in, you normally need only to open a Main document and execute the merge. There is no typing involved at this stage,
ASKER
John - I did try the full Office Repair. No dice.
Graham - You are not quite understanding my problem. Here is what I am doing: I open a document, already formatted to be used as a template using merge. I open the merge box and type in my data. I finish/merge. It goes into my document. All of that is not a problem. The problem is that with all of these documents only page 1 appears on a multi-page document. The merge is working, but somehow, somewhere, it is also not allowing me to view any additional pages, just page 1. This only happens with a document that is either set up to be used with merge data or has already been merged. I have rebooted, repaired, etc. and have not had any success in fixing this.
Graham - You are not quite understanding my problem. Here is what I am doing: I open a document, already formatted to be used as a template using merge. I open the merge box and type in my data. I finish/merge. It goes into my document. All of that is not a problem. The problem is that with all of these documents only page 1 appears on a multi-page document. The merge is working, but somehow, somewhere, it is also not allowing me to view any additional pages, just page 1. This only happens with a document that is either set up to be used with merge data or has already been merged. I have rebooted, repaired, etc. and have not had any success in fixing this.
On this machine, make a new, test Windows User Profile (Account). Log into the new Account, set up Word and test.
I am a bit confused about the merge box. How is that opened?
Can you post a non-confidential example of a document whose later pages cannot be seen?
Can you post a non-confidential example of a document whose later pages cannot be seen?
Sorry. Ignore the request for a sample document. I suppose that the merge is only merging the first record, so the result document has only one page.
If the new profile that John suggests doesn't work, can you see if the preview functions will step through the records
Also do you have a Labels or a Directory merge that you can try. These can output more that one record per page.
If the new profile that John suggests doesn't work, can you see if the preview functions will step through the records
Also do you have a Labels or a Directory merge that you can try. These can output more that one record per page.
ASKER
Thank you for your help and suggestions. I have no idea what happened, but when I took a break from working on this and came back later it was all of a sudden back to normal. So I still don't know what caused it or what fixed it, but at least for now I'm up and running again. What a mystery.
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