Reopen Microsoft word template without having to select the data source

Aspose.Words Product Family
1

I created a simple Microsoft word mail merge template in which I get Merge Fields through a RTF file having comma separated Field names. I have assigned this RTF file as a data source through the “Select Recipients”->“User Existing List” within MS Word template. Everytime I reopen the template, I get a warning popup (see attachment). I want to minimize client intervention and directly present them with the template having the merge fields, without having to click through the popup and select the data source file. Does anyone have a suggestion how can this be achieved?

Thanks in advance.

2

Hi Ketaki,

Thanks for your inquiry. Please use the MailMergeSettings.Clear method to clear the mail merge settings in such a way that when the document is saved, no mail merge settings will be saved and it will become a normal document. You can also use MailMergeSettings.DataSource property, set mail-merge data source path to empty string. Please use the following code example to achieve your requirements. Hope this helps you. Please let us know if you have any more queries.

Document doc = new Document(MyDir + "Test.docx");
doc.MailMergeSettings.Clear();
// MailMergeSettings mms = doc.MailMergeSettings;
// mms.DataSource = "";
doc.Save(MyDir + "Out.docx");
3

Hi Tahir,

I understand that the solution you suggested will clear the mail merge fields from the template. But I want to pre-insert mail merge fields in the template so that the user does not have to do that using “recipients” in Microsoft Word. So that when the user opens the template document, he can see the list of merge fields already present and can design the template.
I tried setting data source on the MailMergeSettings, that inserts merge fields in the template but the user still gets the warning popup I mentioned above. Is there is way to avoid that?
Also, does the data source file(RTF file) have to be present in the same directory as the template or can it be present somewhere else on a remote machine or server?

Thanks a lot.

4

Hi Ketaki,

Thanks for your inquiry. Please note that Aspose.Words mimics the same behavior as MS Word does. If you do the same mail merge by using MS Word, you will get the same output.

*aspose_user2:

Also, does the data source file(RTF file) have to be present in the same directory as the template or can it be present somewhere else on a remote machine or server?*

MailMergeSettings.DataSource specifies the path to the mail-merge data source. You can set the accessible path for MailMergeSettings.DataSource.

*aspose_user2:

I understand that the solution you suggested will clear the mail merge fields from the template. But I want to pre-insert mail merge fields in the template so that the user does not have to do that using “recipients” in Microsoft Word. So that when the user opens the template document, he can see the list of merge fields already present and can design the template.*

If you are using MailMergeSettings, you can not handle the prompt (shown by MS Word) via Aspose.Words.

In your case, I suggest you please use the simple mail merge. Please check the following documentation links.
https://docs.aspose.com/words/net/mail-merge-and-reporting/
https://docs.aspose.com/words/net/mail-merge-and-reporting/

5

Thanks, that answers my questions.
We are letting the user download the word template from the server. Till now, I haven’t found a way to let the user download only the template without downloading the RTF data source file of merge fields. Is there a way to keep the data source file remotely located or does it have to be present on user’s local drive along with the word template for them to be able to design the mail merge document further? That way, the user does not have access to the RTF data source file which is nothing but a huge comma separated list of merge fields.

Thanks.

6

Hi Ketaki,

Thanks for your inquiry. In your case, you should have to specify the accessible path (user’s local drive) to the mail-merge data source. It would be great if you please share your template document and data source rtf document here for our reference. We will then provide you more information on this along with code.

You can also achieve your requirements by using mail merge methods shared in following documentation links.
https://docs.aspose.com/words/java/types-of-mail-merge-operations/
https://docs.aspose.com/words/net/mail-merge-and-reporting/

Hope this helps you.