Working with form documents for a merge

A form document provides the pattern and layout for a merged document. It can contain text, formatting, graphics, and merge commands. You create form documents the same way you create regular documents; however, you insert merge commands which are replaced by information from a data source during the merge. For more information about inserting merge commands, see “Using merge commands.”

This is an example of a form document containing 1) FIELD codes where the name and address of the recipient are inserted and 2) text for a letter.

At the top of the document window, WordPerfect inserts the Merge toolbar to give you greater control over a merge. For more information about the Merge toolbar, see “Using the Merge toolbar.”

WordPerfect lets you create a form document that you can personalize during a keyboard merge. A keyboard merge lets you enter information into the form document each time you need to send it. For more information about the KEYBOARD command, see “Reference: List of merge programming commands.” You also can create a form document for labels.

If you do not want to create a new series of merged documents, you can send all of the merged data to a table. After you perform the merge, all of the merged output will be formatted into a single table with each column representing a field.

To create a form document for a merge or keyboard merge

Click Tools

Merge.

In the Merge dialog box, click Form document

Create form document.

If there is text in the active document, enable one of the following options in the Data file source dialog box, and click OK:

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Use file in active window — uses the active document

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New document window — creates a new document

In the Associate form and data dialog box, enable one of the following:

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Associate a data file — specifies the path and filename for the file

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Associate an address book — specifies an address book

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Associate an ODBC data source — lets you select the ODBC source to use

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No association — does not associate any data file

Click OK.

Perform an action from the following table.

To	Do the following
Create a form document for a merge	Type text, apply formatting, and insert merge commands in the form document. You can now begin inserting fields in the form document.
Create a form document for a keyboard merge	Add text and formatting, and insert fields in the form document. Click where you want to insert a keyboard prompt in the form document. On the Merge toolbar, click Insert merge code, and choose Keyboard. In the Insert merge code dialog box, type a user prompt for the information to be entered and click OK.
Create a sideways text form document	On the WordPerfect menu bar, click Insert Text box, insert fields in the new text box, and click Close. Right-click the text box, and click Content. Then, enable a rotation option in the Rotate text counterclockwise area, and click OK.

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For information about inserting merge commands, see “To insert a merge command.”

To insert a field in a form document for a merge

On the Merge toolbar, click Insert Field.

Click in the form document where you want data to be filled in from a data source.

In the Insert field name and number dialog box, choose a field from the Field names list.

You can keep the Insert field name and number dialog box open and continue to add information and formatting to the form document.

Click Insert.

To create a form document for labels

Click Tools

Merge.

In the Merge dialog box, click Form document

Create form document.

If you have typed in the current document, enable one of the following options in the Data file source dialog box:

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Use file in active window — uses the active document

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New document window — creates a new document

In the Associate form and data dialog box, enable the Associate an address book option, and choose an address book from the list box.

Click OK.

On the WordPerfect menu bar, click Format

Labels.

In the List labels for area, enable one of the following label options:

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Laser printed — displays laser label options

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Tractor-fed — displays tractor-fed label options

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Both — displays laser and tractor-fed label options

Choose a label style from the Labels list, and click Select.

Insert fields in the form document.

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You can merge selected records from an address book. For information, see “To merge selected records from an address bo
ok.”

To create a table for a merge

Click Tools

Merge.

In the Merge dialog box, click Form document

Create form document.

If there is text in the active document, enable one of the following options in the Data file source dialog box:

•

Use file in active window — uses the active document

•

New document window — creates a new document

In the Associate form and data dialog box, enable one of the following options and click OK:

•

Associate a data file — specifies the path and filename for the associated data file

•

Associate an address book — specifies an address book

•

Associate an ODBC data source — lets you select an ODBC source

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No association — does not associate any data file

On the WordPerfect menu bar, click Table

Create and in the Create table dialog box, type the specified values in the following boxes:

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Columns — number of columns

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Rows — 2

Click Create, and type a heading in each cell of the first row.

Right-click the table, click Format, and on the Table tab, enable the Insert new rows automatically check box, and click OK.

Insert fields in the second row of the table, and click Close.

Click at the end of the last cell in the second row, and on the Merge toolbar, click Insert merge code and choose More.

In the Insert merge codes dialog box, choose REPEATROW from the Merge codes list, click Insert, and click Close.

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After merging, the table expands one row for each record in the associated data file.

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Press Tab to move to the next cell.

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