Windows 10: Indexing of MANY names for a cemetery book

The index would be word generated, in a word document, the word document would be created from an Excel Spreadsheet, or any other standard DBMS format that word can accept, that is used as a database table for a Merge and contains the actual entries

 

Let me give mail-merge a try and I'll get back to you ASAP.

This option did not work...

 

I would suggest you create three sections - The preamble containing the introduction TOC Etc, the data section which would contain the actual data, merged from the database, and a final section that would contain the Index

the important thing here is to wrap the merge codes you require to be included in the index, in Index codes - then do the merge - then the index. You also need to ensure that the merge is set to place each set of merged data fields on a single line not one per page

 

Barman58 -- The book is layout is complete. Several chapters have yet to be added. The TOC is fully updata-able.

I DO understand the process and have used it with smaller samples with great success.

Now, must I mark every single one of the thousands of records that I want included in the index? Is there a way to "gang-mark" or to use a special "heading" (like with the TOC, but different, of course). I will spend years marking for the index in 25 books containing 110K names.

 

@Leila6300

Hi that's not quite true

You CAN create an embedded Excel document within Word --if the EXCEL file changes then Word will automatically have access to the new data.

This used back in the days of distant past to be called OLE or something -- it was a successor to DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange).

I haven't done this for ages now as I tend to use EXCEL exclusively but it should be easy enough - create a small TEST excel file, embed it a Word doc and test it.

If you need to mess around in WORD you could have a go with VBA (The basic compiler which allows macros etc) but I think EXCEL would be easier.

With all sorts of nice formats available - why do you HAVE to use word. For text of course you can do it the other way around - embed a WORD document in EXCEL.

With Office the possibilities are endless --IMO office is one of the best Ms products ever.

Cheers
jimbo

 

I have an idea!!!

Where can I look at the Word-generated table that is made when marking for the index? I*d I could access that, and copy-paste to it. That might work... Anyone know how to see that file?

 

Hi there
@Leila6300

Here's a good guide to get started - this should work.

Linking Excel Data Into Word Documents

Cheers
jimbo

 

Have not constructed a complex report of this nature for a while, but you should create a single line merge in the actual data section in the word document and merge the data from the "database" each entry (person) in the data will occupy one line in the word document

the important thing is to merge each field from the data individually to the word document the following shows an example (not using actual field or word codes )

[GivenName] [Index][Surname][/index] [Burial Date] ... .... ....
[GivenName] [Index][Surname][/index] [Burial Date] ... .... ....
[GivenName] [Index][Surname][/index] [Burial Date] ... .... ....

This will create a list containing data, when the "merge is" run, and an index containing the surname and the page it occurs on when an index operation is run

These would be updated if the two operations were performed again at a later time and data had been added or removed

 

Jimbo45 -- I created the Excel file (Tables-Excel File) for a test index using 5 entries. When I changed the pagination by adding one page before the actual text, the page numbers did not change on the embedded Excel SS. There has to be some connection between the text and the SS... what is it?

 

By George, Nigel, I think we've got it going on now! Let me give this a try and I'll get back to you today!

 

Nigel, I can add the code to the SS BEFORE I import the text to the Word document. I think this might just work. The small tests worked perfectly!

 

Well, Nigel, that last option didn't work either. Word will NOT recognize the input code even though it looks and is placed identically as the Word-marked (for index) code. GRRRR!

{ XE " Young, Leila" } is the format in Calibri Body, 12 pt. for the Word-marked entry.

I have to take a few days off because of a death in the family but will check back in a few and continue work by mid to end of the week.

Thanks to everyone and keep thinking about this for me, PLEEZ!

Best, Leila

 

What version of word are you using - it may be that the required syntax is different dependent on the version,

If I get a free hour I'll see if I can knock a sample word doc and excel spreadsheet and get it to work and post them up for you to take a look at when you return