Mail Merge

[copiman]

First of all this is new to me. Have a customer that does a mail merge job once a month. Ever since they changed computers there has been an issue. before computers changed they would send the job just fine. After they changed computers is where the problem started. They are sending an 11x17, 2-sided document with the merged information (name, address). The machine will stall after a few prints out. I'm thinking the problem is in the setting on the job. I would think you would want the 11x17 document sent only once along with the merged information. What I think is happening is, it sends the 11x17 document 50 times. I'm sure its in the settings, but like I said, I'm not familiar with mail merge. Can someone enlighten me as to what to do?

[TheOwl]

Re: Mail Merge

Typically, printing a mail merged document prints everything as though it is one big job which is actually really annoying when you are trying to use finishing features.

You really do want the mail merge data to be sent as indivual print jobs to start with which is typically done by using a macro.

If you send the print job and watch the print spool, what do you see exactly? Do you see the same print job multiple times, or do you see one print job with multiple pages (same number as pages for the entire mail merge)?

[KenB]

Re: Mail Merge

Mr. Owl is right on the money. A macro will allow the jobs to print and be finished (stapled, hole punched, etc...) properly.

The attached file may help. (I claim no responsibility for it, though. )

[copiman]

Re: Mail Merge

Stopped by the customers office yesterday and ran a job of 25. Of course it ran just fine.

Here is what I know so far in addition to what I originally posted:

The other day when they experienced the problem, they sent the job to a Savin C9020 (20ppm). It ran the job with no problem. The savin is using PCL and the Panasonic DP-4520 (45ppm) is using GDI. I looked at both drivers and the are configured the same. Of course they prefer to use the Panasonic for speed.

I opened the Panasonic driver and watch as I sent the job. Before the machine started printing, I noticed the size of the file slowly increased. Also when I sent the job, a small box opened and it showed "printing page 1" then "printing page 2". This flipping between these two messages continued to do so 25 times. Not sure if this is what you were talking about.

The thought crossed my mind that its the GDI vs. PCL. But if that was the case, it would not have worked properly with the original computer. Right now I'm lost. The only thing I know about mail merge is it merges name and address to the document. Any thoughts?

[TheOwl]

Re: Mail Merge

Try sending the job to the Panasonic with "Collate" turned off.

In Word 2003 and back, the feature was just a check box in the print dialog box.

In word 2007 onwards, its a drop down menu from the print screen.

[copiman]

Re: Mail Merge

TheOwl is right on the money. Stopped by the customer and ran a job of 50 with collate turned off and all went well. Will run a full job with the customer the last week of the month. Thanks everyone for your help.