Merge to Word

Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Addin → Group File and Print

Command ID: btnMergeWord

License required

This command needs an active DVDAddin account (Standard or PRO). During the trial period it is fully available.

What it does

The command merges an Excel range into Word templates: each data row produces one Word file. In the template you leave placeholders written as [ColumnHeader], and the add-in replaces them with the value from the matching column on the row being processed.

This is how you issue a run of documents that share a layout but differ in content: inspection records per element, inspection requests per work package, labour contracts per crew, meeting invitations per organisation. Several templates can be selected at once so a single data row yields a complete document set.

How to use

1. Prepare the data range on the sheet with the first row as the column headers — those header names are the placeholder names you will use in Word.
2. Prepare the Word templates, marking each blank as [ColumnHeader] exactly as the header reads, and keep them all in one folder.
3. Go to tab DVD Addin → group File and Print → click Merge to Word.
4. On the Word template folder row, click 📁 and choose the folder holding the templates.
5. On the Output folder row, click 📁 and choose where the results should go.
6. In the Pick Word templates list, select the templates you need; hold Ctrl or Shift to pick several.
7. In Data range (with header), type the address or click ⤴ to drag-select it on the worksheet.
8. In Output filename column, choose the column whose value names each generated file.
9. Click Merge. The status line beside the button reports progress; when it ends, the Word files are waiting in the output folder.

Example

You need to issue 35 work inspection records, one per drainage culvert section.

On the Culverts sheet, range A1:F36 has the headers RecordNo, WorkItem, Chainage, InspectionDate, Contractor, Conclusion. The template Culvert_Record.docx contains sentences such as: "On [InspectionDate], at chainage [Chainage], the parties inspected [WorkItem] executed by [Contractor]." You choose the template folder, set the output folder to D:\Project\Records, tick Culvert_Record.docx, set the data range to A1:F36, choose RecordNo as the filename column, and click Merge. The output folder receives 35 Word files named by record number, already filled in and ready to print and sign.

Notes

• The data range must include a header row; placeholders in Word have to match those headers exactly, including accents and spacing.
• The filename column should be unique per row — two rows with the same value overwrite each other in the output folder.
• Selecting several templates multiplies the output: each data row produces one file per template, so check disk space before a large run.
• Microsoft Word must be installed on the machine to open and write the template files.
• Placeholders sitting in headers, footers or text boxes may not be replaced the way body text is; test with a few rows before issuing the whole batch.
• Output files with a name that already exists in the folder are overwritten, and this cannot be undone.

Related

• Send Email — use the same data table to send batch mail with attachments.
• Batch print — the same idea for printing and PDF from an Excel form.
• Word to PDF — convert the merged Word files to PDF in bulk.
• Rename files — rebrand the output file names to your document numbering convention.