Cumulative merges

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
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G

Guest

Is it possible to do multiple merges out of different contact folders and
accumulate them into a single merge file? It kind of seems like you should be
able to, but it's not clear, and the temp file is buried some obscure place
and the path is pretty much impossible to capture. I tried using a permanent
file, but that acted strangely and didn't work.

This would be particularly useful with folders that aren't so full, to avoid
wasting partial label pages (since each merge appears to require starting at
the top left label).

Thanks,
BnB
 
Using lots of Contacts folders has drawbacks. Drag all your Contacts to the
one folder. Use categories to allow Grouping of people using the Group By
Box (on the advanced toolbar). Have a play around - you can manipulate that
views using the Field Chooser and Group by Box functions (side by side on
the toolbar in Phone List view or By Category View).

Now you can select all Contacts or various subsets and emailmerge to the by
using Tools | Mailmerge.


Judy Gleeson
Acorn Training and Consulting
"we're nuts about Outlook"

see what Outlook training can do to improve productivity:
www.acorntraining.com.au/pdfdocs/ProductivITwithOutlook.pps

www.acorntraining.com.au/productivit.htm


????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????> Is it
possible to do multiple merges out of different contact folders and
 
I'll take that as a "No". Folders are so intuitive, and they're easy to use
for basic stuff, but I keep running into limitations, and the answer always
seems to be "don't use folders." So I'm not sure why folders exist. Maybe
with some work there's some way to make categories work easily, but folders
do that without any work until you run into the limitations. The MVPs I'm
sure know all the tricks, but I really don't want to study it hard enough to
learn tricks for basic simple stuff. Frustrating that what should be easy is
so much work, or at least is very un-intuitive (in the presence of an
intuitive alternative that apparently doesn't work). I consider the
"category-instead-of-folders" solution to be a workaround for the failures of
folder functionality...

Not trying to be a troll, and I appreciate the input, but I'm just trying to
voice the frustrated experience of one person trying to do something simple
and wishing not to have to become an Outlook expert to do that. Once you know
all the tricks, it's easy to start believing that the tricks actually
represent a natural way to do things. Here I am now having to completely
restructure my contacts for a reason that doesn't seem to be a good one.
(Yeah, I can drag all the contacts, but I now have to go through each one and
add a category -- much more tedious than just moving into a folder.)

I'll stop asking questions about folders... I get the point, I'll pretend
they don't exist. :) Sorry for the vent... Would be great if someone at MS
heard it...

BnB
 
No again!! Don't open each one to categorise them for goodness sake!!!!!

The most important bits of Outlook (my view and I teach it as a Productivity
Tool) are:

Understand that Categories are what makes Outlook work with you rather than
against you (your problem at present)

Learn how to use the Group By Box and Field Chooser

I know you would have loved this to be a) more intuitive and b) something
you learned before all the work you've put into Outlook!

Here's your Categorising solution:

In each Contacts folder place 1 Contact in the Category you'll use for those
people, eg Suppliers. Use the Group By Box to Group by Category. 1 person
will be in Suppliers, all the others in None. Drag all the None people into
the suppliers Group. Done!

Judy Gleeson
Acorn Training and Consulting
"we're nuts about Outlook"

see what Outlook training can do to improve productivity:
www.acorntraining.com.au/pdfdocs/ProductivITwithOutlook.pps

www.acorntraining.com.au/productivit.htm



????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????> I'll take
that as a "No". Folders are so intuitive, and they're easy to use
 
to BnB..........as one who has worked with databases for over 20 years, and
exclusivly used Outlook since 1997, I agree with you 100%. Your comments are
"right on the mark".........I could not have said it better.

The help suggested from folks like Judy is of course appreciated and well
intended....but I think folks at Microsoft and other who "teach" often
overlook the "real life" issues users face in the workplace every day!

I would suggest sending your comments along via fax to Microsoft Office
corporate in Redmond for the programmers consideration as they develop
 
My description of Outlook to all the people I train includes:

it's highly functional and can help you manage your work once you know how
best to set settings and use it's functions

it's very inconsistent in the way it does things and this is confusing

it's illogical and this is confusing

So thanks for the praise, but the trainers aren't the root cause of the
challenges users have with Outlook.

Judy Gleeson
Acorn Training and Consulting
 
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