Create mailmerge layout for booklet

Hi all,
I am trying to bring the local community car scheme that I volunteer as a driver with, into the 21st century. :)
At present, eveything is on paper.

I am going to create an excel worksheet with all the data, and use mailmerge to print out in Word 2007.

Now the problem I am having, is that I am trying to print effectively labels layout, but on an A4 page layout, landscape and as Booklet 4 to a page. Whilst that appears to work fine for paragraphs, it does not (or I cannot get it to) work for labels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EdFrCQEd1s

I am not going to use labels, but want to fold the A4 in half to create an A5 booklet and put that folded page into A5 polypockets, as the controller currently carries an A5 address book with all the details.

Would anyone be able to give me the steps needed to make this possible, if it is possible, please?

TIA

If you are only folding sheet in half, why would you need 4 to a page? Did you mean 2 on each side?
A booklet arrangement in Acrobat is 2 pages side-by-side and 2-sided. Format the Word document and save to PDF.

If you want 4 to a side then might need a publishing software.

Well my plan was to fold the A4 in two and put in an A5 polypocket, but I am open to all ideas.

The Word option only has a minimum of 4 as shown on the youtube video? Perhaps that is what the 4 is in Word, 2 either side.
I have a duplex printer, not sure about the car scheme.

PDF booklet print will print pages in proper order 2-sided, head-to-head. Cut instead of fold. Save paper.

Not sure Word can do that.

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Originally Posted by June7

PDF booklet print will print pages in proper order 2-sided, head-to-head. Cut instead of fold. Save paper.

Not sure Word can do that.

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Thank you June7,
I will check it out, however another requirement is to print certain items in colour, if the are in colour in the spreadsheet, so I was using word mailmerge because I have just tested I can do that (with a few hoops to jump through :) )

Does PDF creater allow for that at all, would you know?

Edit: Ah, I see, needs an input file to start with. Will give it a go.

In fact I just takled to the controller. he is happy with two columns of 4 on an A4,(Avery label L7165 layout) and will then fold that in half to place into an A5 polypocket, so my problems have gone away, for the most part. :)

Word has the tools for booklet folds built-in. Simply configure your mailmerge main document with the required bookfold format and it can produce as many booklets as you need. Since you're apparently doing no more than producing a name/address booklet, a directory merge is needed rather than a table merge. For the directory merge set-up details, see the Merge Labels Using a Down-Then-Across Output topic at: Mailmerge Tips & Tricks (msofficeforums.com)

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Originally Posted by macropod

Word has the tools for booklet folds built-in. Simply configure your mailmerge main document with the required bookfold format and it can produce as many booklets as you need. Since you're apparently doing no more than producing a name/address booklet, a directory merge is needed rather than a table merge. For the directory merge set-up details, see the Merge Labels Using a Down-Then-Across Output topic at: Mailmerge Tips & Tricks (msofficeforums.com)

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Thank you Paul, that is very handy, as I just mentioned about this to the controller and he accepted that it would be printed left, right, down, left right etc, so so down then across would be ideal, I'll check out. I was even considering an Access report, as I know that can produce a down then across output, but even more work in that case.

In fact it was that page that got me able to print the output in conditional colour, so thanks again.

For the life of me, I cannot get this to work? :(
I can delete the second column, but not any cells in the first column?

Merge Labels Using a Down-Then-Across Output
To achieve this:
1. In the Labels dialog, click New Document to create a new document based on the label definition you have chosen.
2. Delete all cells except the first. If there is a spacer column, note its width beforehand.
3. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Columns and choose More Columns...
4. In the Columns dialog, select however many labels across your label stationery originally had
5. In the Spacing box, set the width to the original spacer column width or, if it had none, 0
6. Set the column width to your label width.
7. Change the mailmerge type to 'Directory'.
8. Run the mailmerge.

Just using Print Preview at the moment.

We can live with side by side, and in fact as the controller wants to fold the A4 in half and place in a polypocket, that is the better arrangement?, as I intend to have the names sorted and the controller wants an excel sheet for each starting letter, so that is fortunate. :)

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Originally Posted by Gasman

For the life of me, I cannot get this to work? :(
I can delete the second column, but not any cells in the first column?

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Having deleted the extra columns, simply delete the extra rows in the remaining column. That's as easy as selecting everything from the 2nd row down to the paragraph break following the table then pressing the Delete key.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Just using Print Preview at the moment.

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That won't give a meaningful display of what you'll get from the Directory merge.