“Mail merge” is a relatively simple way to take collection data (from a spreadsheet) and
produce pre-formatted labels. We provide, here, two sets of files: one for producing
specimen labels, and another for producing annotation labels. These files may be used as
is, or easily modified for specific formats and uses.
Files: labels_template.doc and labels_datafile.xls for producing herbarium labels;
annotation_labels_template.doc and annotation_labels_datafile.xls for producing
annotation labels.
1. Download the files, and place them in a common folder (directory). To get a feel
for how they work, open the Microsoft Word file “labels_template.doc” (or
“annotation_labels_template.doc” if you wish to work on annotation labels).
Word will ask you if the file is from a trusted source (which of course it is!), and
then ask which worksheet in the datafile to use—choose the default selection.
2. What you see next depends on your settings, and version of Word, etc. But
basically, you’ll be presented with a document with lots of double arrows (« and
»). These double arrows enclose text blocks that tell Word to go to the datafile
and take the entry from the column with that name and insert it into the Word file.
To preview what will happen, using the example entries already included in the
datafiles, press the preview button (it has the double arrows with ABC beneath
them) in the Mail Merge Manager. If the Mail Merge Manager is not visible, you
can get to it from the Tools pull-down menu. [Older versions of Word may have a
slightly different way of operating the Mail Merge functions, but it should be
clear enough from within the Tool pull-down menus.] The Word file goes and
pulls the relevant values for each field from paired Excel spreadsheet, and ta-da,
there’re your labels! Pressing the preview button again restores the document to
its original, data-free view, so you can switch back and forth to understand where
the various text fragments are coming from, and how they are formatted.
3. To work on your own data, close the Word file, and open the relevant Excel
spreadsheet (“annotation_labels_datasheet.xls” or “labels_datasheet.xls”
depending on which you wish to make).
4. Delete the examples we’ve provided (after looking through them to make sure
that you understand the intent for each column, and how each is formatted in the
resulting labels), and enter your collection information. If you need more than
one label for a particular collection, duplicate the entry on a second line. Save
your datafile, and close it (the system can get confused if you have both the Excel
and the Word file open simultaneously).
5. Open the linked Word document (labels_template.doc or
annotation_labels_template.doc), and follow the same steps as in 1 and 2, above.
