I need to create a Docket page in MS Word for every day that our three Judges will be in Court that will state where they will be and the cases that they will hear on that date. I have been creating these manually but it is a pain so I wondered if I could perform a mail merge for these but then run into the issue of how to save each page with its own individual file name. I’d like to use the following file name convention: JUDGE’S INITIALSyyyymmdd.docx. Do you have any suggestions? Could a macro do this and if so, can you help me with the macro?
Right off the top of my head, I’d suggest investigating a plug-in to do this rather than attempting to program your own macro. One that comes to mind would be TheFormTool (theformtool.com). I’m not sure if it can save the separate documents with the file naming convention you specified, but it’s worth taking a look at it. There’s a free version and an $89 version (and if you head over to http://lawyeristlab.com/forum/deals/theformtool-pro-use-code-tll412-for-10-off-the-purchase-price-1/, you can probably still get a coupon code for a discount). Google “Microsoft Word mail merge plugin” and see what else you can come up with.
Sorry, I hit the wrong thing and posted a partial comment.
The things Word won't do are mostly around complex documents.
1. No document sub-headers or sub-footers.
2. No backwards and forward compatibility,.
3. Without using Visual Basic, will not populate a temple using a single dialogue box.
Crystal: I’m not sure I’d agree with nos. 1 and 2 (unless I misunderstand what you mean by subheaders/subfooters, which I would say are possible with document sections), and there are ways to use fields to populate a field for a template without using Visual Basic. I don’t really cover any of these techniques in this course, however.
How do you insert the numbers into a pleading that doesn't currently have them? I did it the way you showed, but it numbered the existing lines according to the double spacing format of the pleading, and it doesn't have room for more than 19 numbers and still be able to keep them lined up with the double spaced text that the Court requires. Is it ok to only have 19 lines per page?
Also, it skipped numbering the caption page. How do I subvert the automatic spacing of the numbers to accommodate the single spacing of the caption page?
As for the "is it okay to have 19 lines," that's something that the court to determine – what do their guidelines say?
The caption page is probably a different section (in other words, you've got a section break between your caption page and the rest of your document). Since the line numbering scheme "lives" in the header/footer space of the document, that element may or may not repeat between sections, depending on how you've set it up.
As to the "how do I subvert the automatic spacing", that's covered in lesson 2 when I talk about doing the calculations for line spacing.
Is there any reason you're not able to take one of the existing templates (whichever one is closest to your court's requirements) and tweak it, instead of starting from scratch?
I need to create a Docket page in MS Word for every day that our three Judges will be in Court that will state where they will be and the cases that they will hear on that date. I have been creating these manually but it is a pain so I wondered if I could perform a mail merge for these but then run into the issue of how to save each page with its own individual file name. I’d like to use the following file name convention: JUDGE’S INITIALSyyyymmdd.docx. Do you have any suggestions? Could a macro do this and if so, can you help me with the macro?
Right off the top of my head, I’d suggest investigating a plug-in to do this rather than attempting to program your own macro. One that comes to mind would be TheFormTool (theformtool.com). I’m not sure if it can save the separate documents with the file naming convention you specified, but it’s worth taking a look at it. There’s a free version and an $89 version (and if you head over to http://lawyeristlab.com/forum/deals/theformtool-pro-use-code-tll412-for-10-off-the-purchase-price-1/, you can probably still get a coupon code for a discount). Google “Microsoft Word mail merge plugin” and see what else you can come up with.
Thank you for such a prompt response. At least that’s a start. I appreciate your advice.
Thank you for the lesson. Your knowledge is invaluable.
Thank you so much. This was already very helpful. However, there are some things that Word will not do. For example:
1.
Sorry, I hit the wrong thing and posted a partial comment.
The things Word won't do are mostly around complex documents.
1. No document sub-headers or sub-footers.
2. No backwards and forward compatibility,.
3. Without using Visual Basic, will not populate a temple using a single dialogue box.
Crystal: I’m not sure I’d agree with nos. 1 and 2 (unless I misunderstand what you mean by subheaders/subfooters, which I would say are possible with document sections), and there are ways to use fields to populate a field for a template without using Visual Basic. I don’t really cover any of these techniques in this course, however.
How do you insert the numbers into a pleading that doesn't currently have them? I did it the way you showed, but it numbered the existing lines according to the double spacing format of the pleading, and it doesn't have room for more than 19 numbers and still be able to keep them lined up with the double spaced text that the Court requires. Is it ok to only have 19 lines per page?
Also, it skipped numbering the caption page. How do I subvert the automatic spacing of the numbers to accommodate the single spacing of the caption page?
As for the "is it okay to have 19 lines," that's something that the court to determine – what do their guidelines say?
The caption page is probably a different section (in other words, you've got a section break between your caption page and the rest of your document). Since the line numbering scheme "lives" in the header/footer space of the document, that element may or may not repeat between sections, depending on how you've set it up.
As to the "how do I subvert the automatic spacing", that's covered in lesson 2 when I talk about doing the calculations for line spacing.
Is there any reason you're not able to take one of the existing templates (whichever one is closest to your court's requirements) and tweak it, instead of starting from scratch?