Mail Merge and CheckBoxes (1 Viewer)

melanie

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:eek: Here I am limping and whimpering back to the forum for help..again...

I am mail merging to Word. Some of my table columns are Yes/No data
types. I would like them to come out as check boxes in Word but they
merge as True and False.

Please, how do I overcome this latest dilemma?

Is this simple or am I missing something?

I found the following snippet while trawling the web looking for the answer:

Display database Yes/No information as Yes/No
Display any Yes/No information as a checkbox
Most database sources store Yes/No information as 0 (=No) and -1 (or 1; = Yes) - and this is how Word will display the contents of a Yes/No type of mergefield in a merge. You can display anything you want by using an IF field.
Example:
{ IF { Mergefield YesNo } = "0" "No" "Yes" }
Display: Yes
Word 2002 will occasionally pass Access 2002 database Yes/No results as the literal text "Yes" and "No". Watch out for this if you're convering mail merges from earlier versions.
If you'd prefer to display an unchecked or checked checkbox you can insert the corresponding symbols in the IF field instead of the "No" and "Yes" in the example.


What exactly does the last paragraph pertain to...what are the "corresponding symbols"? I can get the fields to display yes displaying the above code, but I haven't achieved the checkbox ticked status yet, inspite of trying desperately.

Hoping someone with an infinite amount of patience can spell this out to me, slowly, very very slowly.

From the frustrated chick hammering on the keyboard
Melanie
 

GaryPanic

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could it be wingdins format in word ??? or symbol

don't know having a wild guess

g
 

melanie

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Gary

Thanks for responding.

It's not wingdings or symbols from what I can see. They have used the wingdings tick elsewhere on the document, though.

How can I modify the following code to force it to a checkbox. There is quite a list of tickbox options which they are currently ticking yes where appropriate. I have hooked this same 4 page report to the database using the mail merge to existing document and it works beautifully....except for these retched tickboxes. I know the user is not going to enjoy sifting through lists and lists of true's and falses, it looks busy and one cannot see at a glance which ones are true by just eyeballing the report, unlike with the checkboxes.

Would love to find a way around this.

Kind regards
Melanie
 

GaryPanic

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does it have to be word - cannot access do the report
then this is not an issue

G
 

melanie

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Hi Gary

It has to be word as it's a preformatted report for the bank. I have thought about that too!

I cannot figure it out. Yesterday I was able to get the checkbox to show yes instead of true, but am unable to repeat that again....:(

Any ideas?

Regards
Melanie
 

melanie

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an x or a tick would be wonderfull....please tell me how to do it.
 

melanie

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Gary, thanks for jogging the thought processes....

I have placed an if then statement onto each of the fields where I wanted the tickboxes to be to make it a Yes if true or - if not = true.

I haven't found a way to get the actual tickboxes to show, but just having the "yes's" showing up is a great deal better than columns and columns of trues and falses.

I'd still be keen to know if anybody out there has discovered a way to get the checkboxes to merge into word from access.

Kind regards
Melanie

P.S. off and working again!!!
 

GaryPanic

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I can do this in xls but never tried in word and it was a bitch to do

I try and find the xls sheet I did it in
 

melanie

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Thank you, Gary, if you would I would be gratefull.

After all of this the user is adamant that it has to be checkboxes as they have to follow the client's format!@#$%#. They don't want the yes or a "-" for a no!!!!

I think we all know that a tick and a yes mean the same.........

Sheesh, I need to get a life....

Sitting here on the proverbial finger, hope there is some way to get around this.

Regards
Melanie
 

GaryPanic

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wingdings 2 will give you a cross and a tick
and wingdings will give you a boxed tick cross (second & third to last option )

no idea on how to format this - might need to macro this some how ???

needs a word specilaist - I can hack this about - but not sure if I am clever enough to get this right

might need a new post under Word formating ticks/crosses and copy this post into it
 

melanie

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Gary,

The if statement window does not allow for the insertion (Pasting) of the windgdings characters....BUT.....I have done a field edit after setting up the statement and copied the wingding tick from the windows "character map" and then pasted it into the if statement in toggle mode to a tick if true. It appears to be working. (BIG SMILE)

You are a star, thank you, am going to test it a little more and let you know, but I think the problem has been taken care of. If it works on my system will it work on the users system, provided they have wingdings installed?

Oh, by the way, yes you are clever enough. Funny and Smart!!

Many thanks
Melanie
 

GaryPanic

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didn't realise it was you -- saw the possible problem/solution not who sent it



I am still a hacker though you should see some of the guys here on the forum their knowledge just takes your breath away -- nearly always happy to help


anyway - hopefully problem solved
g:-}
 

melanie

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I'm busy updating all the fields and then I'll check the values in the tables compared to those in the word doc and let you know.

Everybody on this forum is amazing. The talent and the willingness to help solve a problem really warms the cockles of my heart.

Hacker or no hacker, Gary, you have talent too.


Let you know in a bit

Melanie :)
 

melanie

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 All appears perfect....

Thank you, I think this formatting is going to do the trick.

{ IF { Mergefield FieldName } = "True" "þ" "ý" }

This is a workaround for something that should be so so so so simple...
Getting a Mail Merge from Access to display the checkboxes in the merged word document.

If things were as simple as they were supposed to be WHAT would we spend all our time doing??????

Thanks again Gary
Melanie
 

melanie

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Erk: The wingdings I copied to place in the formula above didn't show, but take it from me, copying the wingdings from the windows character map and placing it into the if statement does work and the correct tickboxes do show.

Sorry about that.

Melanie
 

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