Is it possible to reset the merge record to starting record with Word mail merge?

Use the Duplex merge facility on my Merge Tools Add-in.

You can download the MergeTools – 20140218.dotm Add-in that I created from the following page of my One Drive: http://bit.ly/1hduSCB

The MergeTools – 20140218.dotm file needs to be saved in the Word Startup folder.  In Windows XP the default location for that folder is C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP In Windows Vista and Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 it is C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP If you do not see the AppData folder: - In Windows 7, - In Windows Explorer, click on the Organize drop down and then on Folder and search options and in the Folder Options dialog, go to the View tab and select the item "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".  While there, it is a good idea to uncheck the box of "Hide extensions for known file types". In Windows 8 and 8.1, in the File Explorer, click on Options on the View tab of the ribbon and then on the View tab in the dialog that appears and select the item "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".  While there, it is a good idea to uncheck the box of "Hide extensions for known file types". When that has been done and Word is started\re-started, the tab shown below will be added to the Ribbon:

The requirements for using the system are:

1. The data source must be in the form of an Excel worksheet and that worksheet must be the first sheet in the Excel workbook. If the data is on some other sheet, you can easily move that sheet so that it is the first sheet in the workbook by clicking on the sheet tab and dragging it to the left.

2. The field names must be in the first row of the worksheet and there must be a field name in all of the cells in that row that are within the range of columns that contain the data.

3. The field names must contain only alphanumeric characters (No @,#,$,%,&,(,), etc) and the field names must not start with a numeric character (0-9).

4. The data must start in the second row of the worksheet and there should be no empty rows within the range of data that is to be processed.

Thanks Doug,

Merge Tools looks like a very useful Add-in.

Unfortunately, in this case the organization of the data does not comply with the criteria you laid out.  While it is an Excel worksheet, there is a series of Userforms and macros that pre-req a specific and different structure.

I had hoped there was a simple "field-based" approach e.g., <<record reset>> versus <<next record>>... before I resort to VBA but I couldn't find anything.

Mail merge is sequential. It doesn't go backwards. You need to create or (derive from the original workbook) a datasource that has the required information sorted to ensure the data goes in the correct locations. Doug's add-in does that, and there's a similar one on my web site http://www.gmayor.com/duplex_merge_data.htm .

The alternative is to use VBA to put the required data in the correct cells of a label template.

Not a particularly simple approach, but one thing you can try.

Assuming you are using a typical layout where each side of a card is in a table cell, make sure your layout has the cells for both sides of your sheet (i.e. 8 cells, probably)>

In the first four cell, save the values of the merge fields that you need for the other side of the card, using SET fields.

e.g. if you need fields called  <<fielda>> and <<fieldb>>

in your first cell, in addition to any <<Next Record>> field and the fields you need to print the card, put

{ SET fielda1 { MERGEFIELD fielda } }{ SET fieldb1 { MERGEFIELD fieldb } }

in your second cell use

{ SET fielda2 { MERGEFIELD fielda } }{ SET fieldb1 { MERGEFIELD fieldb } }

...and so on for the other postcards. As usual, each pair of {  } need to be the special field code braces that you can insert using ctrl-F9 on windows Word.

Then in cells 5 to 8
 a. omit the <<Next Record>> field. In other words, all the content of cells 5 to 8
 b. use the appropriate REF fields, e.g. in cell 5 use

{ fielda2 } and { fieldb2 }

in cell 6 use

{ fielda1 } and { fieldb1 }
 and so on. (You may have noticed that since the fields for cell4 are still available, all you really need to do is copy the values in cells 1, 2 and 3 and use the REF fields in cells 6, 5 and 8. In cell 7 you can use MERGEFIELD fields in the usual way.)

I like the approach, Peter.

Could actually work very well for what I need - except, I cannot get the field set codes to stay in the document.  I can enter them - Ctrl F9, etc. - but as soon as I try to preview the merge, they disappear.

Must be doing something dumb!

The { SET } fields are not visible in the same way as MERGEFIELD fields, and only the results of the { REF } fields would be visible. It may be better to select a few records, merge to an output document, and have a look at the results. But I'll take a look at this again at some point.