Postcard Mail Merge - 4 per page difficulties

[mom@discussions.microsoft.com office mom]

I am trying to merge 50 records onto the postcards I have created (4 to a
page/landscape) When I print them, they all merge, but you get four of the
exact same address per page. How do I have one address on each postcard
instead of 4 of each address. I'm going crazy! I read over past questions
and it is not just a glitch in print preview, it actually does print 4. I
just did it! Can I change a setting somewhere to fix this?

I also tried creating my own four per page design with my own merge boxes,
but I can not find a way to add the <<next record>> field you need to get it
to go to the next box. It prints four of the same per page there as well!

HELP. I hope someone know the answer to this

[office mom]

OK - I just spent 45 minutes reading through all the old posts and trying
different things. Finally, I went to WORD and made the back of the postcards
using an Avery Label and now I will print the fronts in Publisher by just
turning the paper over for the printer. This whole thing is insane.
Hopefully Microsoft will fix this in future versions of Publisher. It would
be sweet if it worked well by merging 4 records on one page or by allowing
you to insert your own "next field" merge code. (Word Perfect lets you do
that.)

Thanks for all of your help and suggestions through past entries!

[Ed Bennett]

office mom wrote:
> OK - I just spent 45 minutes reading through all the old posts and trying
> different things. Finally, I went to WORD and made the back of the postcards
> using an Avery Label and now I will print the fronts in Publisher by just
> turning the paper over for the printer. This whole thing is insane.
> Hopefully Microsoft will fix this in future versions of Publisher.

This DOES work in all versions of Publisher I've tried it in. You have
to design a SINGLE postcard on screen, and then set the Page Setup such
that it repeats the design across the page. PROVIDED you design it like
this, then the Print Preview showing the same details is a bug (it reads
the first record and puts it everywhere just to give an idea of the
design), and the printout should be fine.

Where problems arise is when you try to design a single sheet of cards
at once. This is obviously doomed to failure since there is no sensible
way of telling Publisher where to switch records.

> by allowing
> you to insert your own "next field" merge code. (Word Perfect lets you do
> that.)

I always puzzle when people ask where this is in Publisher, or suggest
it be added. How on Earth would it be done?! It makes perfect sense in a
linear text-oriented application - once the <<Next Record>> is hit,
the current record is incremented. However, in a frame-oriented
application like Publisher, which field codes would come before and after?

--
Ed Bennett - MVP Microsoft Publisher
http://ed.mvps.org

[MaggieDonuts]

I had same problem and realized that when you click "Print" you must click on
the box that says "Mutiple PAGES per sheet" and not Multiple COPIES per
sheet. That is how you get the 4 different addresses on a 4 up page

[Banana@discussions.microsoft.com Patana Banana]

It works, but, boy, did I get a work out on this issue!

[MaggieDonuts]

Glad I could be of help, I know since I also spent hours trying to get it
right...but the client responses I get make it worthwhile!

[jma...@gmail.com]

Thank you MaggieDonuts! I've been looking for a solution to this problem for sometime....and here I just needed to look further down the selection list for "Multiple Pages per sheet" Thanks!

[jjbe...@ncsu.edu]

Thank you MaggieDonuts! Your solution saved me and my coworker a TON of time today!

[Lynda]

Thank you , thank you, thank you. I have been working on this for hours. I was about to declare I could not do it. I had multiple COPIES selected instead of multiple PAGES. Thank you.

[sophi...@gmail.com]

YAY! 1 hour later and such a simple solution!