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Article ID: 138283 - Last Review: October 11, 2006 - Revision: 1.5
How to Create a Form Letter with a Visual Basic Macro
This article was previously published under Q138283
When you use OLE Automation to communicate from one program to another, you
can complete many useful tasks without having to leave the client program.
For example, perhaps you store data in Microsoft Excel, but you would like
to create form letters in Microsoft Word using this data. The example
provided in the "More Information" section of this article shows how you
can perform this task programmatically.
Note that you may experience problems running a macro in Microsoft Excel if
you are using a Microsoft Excel data source to perform a mail merge in
Microsoft Word. The resolution to this problem is to save the Microsoft
Excel file as a Word document and to use the Word document as the source of
the data. In the macro example provided below, the macro saves the
Microsoft Excel data file to a Word document.
For additional information about this problem, please see the following
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
138289Â
(http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=138289/EN-US/
)
XL7: Error Using OLE Automation with Microsoft Word 7.0
Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic for Applications procedures for
illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including,
but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness
for a particular purpose. The Visual Basic procedures in this article are
provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in
all situations. While Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) Professionals
can help explain the functionality of a particular macro, they will not
modify these examples to provide added functionality, nor will they help
you construct macros to meet your specific needs. If you have limited
programming experience, you may want to consult one of the Microsoft
Solution Providers. Solution Providers offer a wide range of fee-based
services, including creating custom macros. For more information about
Microsoft Solution Providers, call Microsoft Customer Information Service
at (800) 426-9400.
To use the following macro, you will need to set up the data source in
Microsoft Excel. To do so, perform the following steps:
- Create a new, blank Microsoft Excel workbook.
- Enter the following data on the worksheet:
A1: NAME B1: ADDRESS C1: CITY D1: STATE E1: ZIP_CODE
A2: John Smith B2: 1 Way Avenue C2: Kent D2: NC E2: 11111
A3: Mary Lynn B3: Do Drive C3: Poluk D3: SC E3: 22222
A4: Peter Paul B4: Fest Drive C4: Low D4: FL E4: 33333
- Save the file as Testdata.xls in the root directory of the C drive,
and then close the workbook.
- In another workbook, type the following macro code on a module sheet:
Sub Do_It_All_Form_Letter()
Dim word As Object
Set word = CreateObject("word.basic") 'creates the word object
With word
.AppShow ' Makes Word Visible
'Sends keystrokes to the Open Worksheet dialog box
SendKeys "{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}{ENTER}"
'Opens the Microsoft Excel file
.FileOpen Name:="c:\testdata.xls"
'Saves the file as a Microsoft Word document
.FileSaveAs Name:="c:\testdata.doc", Format:=0
.FileClose 'Closes the file
.FileNewDefault ' Opens up blank Word document
'Makes the active window a main document
.MailMergeMainDocumentType 0
'Open the data source
.MailMergeOpenDataSource Name:="c:\testdata.doc", _
LinkToSource:=0
'Activates the mail merge main document
.MailMergeEditMainDocument
'The following Insert commands place text into the Word
'document. You could change these commands to place any text in
'the document. This example uses a typical business letter
'format.
.Insert "3454 Blindside St." 'Inserts a string
.InsertPara 'Inserts a carriage return
.Insert "Columbia, GA 23287"
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
'the mergefields are the same as the column headings in the Excel
'workbook
.InsertMergeField MergeField:="NAME"
.InsertPara
.InsertMergeField MergeField:="ADDRESS"
.InsertPara
.InsertMergeField MergeField:="CITY"
.Insert ", "
.InsertMergeField MergeField:="STATE"
.Insert " "
.InsertMergeField MergeField:="ZIP_CODE"
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
.Insert "Dear "
.InsertMergeField MergeField:="NAME"
.Insert ","
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
.Insert "Thank You For Your Support."
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
.Insert "Sincerely,"
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
.InsertPara
.Insert "John M. Doe"
.MailMergeToDoc 'Merges data records with the main document
' Saves the active document with the specified name
.FileSaveAs Name:="c:\letters.doc"
End With
Set word = Nothing 'clears the object variable
End Sub
- Run the macro.
The sample file Letters.doc is now available on the root directory of the
computer's C drive.
For more information about OLE Automation, click the Index tab in
Microsoft Excel Help, and type the following text:
OLE
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition
Retired KB Content DisclaimerThis article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
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