How to Create a Directory or Catalog using OnMerge Images

Hold Ctrl+click to open sample

This is an example of a company directory that shows employee name, contact

information and a photo. The directory was formatted using Word’s Mail Merge
Wizard directory option.

To do this merge, you will need:

1. Photos for each employee which are named with employee’s first and last
name .JPG.
2. Data source of employee data.
3. A layout for the directory.

Setting Up the Data Source

Depending on the company, employee databases can be in various formats or
you may create one from scratch. In this case, we use an existing data source
that is included with OnMerge Images Examples.

Setting up the Master Directory Template

How to Create a Directory or Catalog using OnMerge Images 1

Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
We have included a pre-setup template for the above directory so you can easily
follow along these steps. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on this sentence to
bring up that template in another window.

[Word 2002 & 2003: Select Tools + Letters and Mailings + Mail Merge Wizard]
or [Word 2007 & 2010 only: Select Mailings + Start Mail Merge + Step by Step
Mail Merge Wizard] to bring up the Mail Merge wizard on the right side of your
screen. The wizard will guide you through six steps to complete your merge:

 Step 1, Select document type: Select Directory and click Next at the
right, bottom of the screen.

 Step 2, Select starting document:

o If you were typing in a document from scratch, you would select

Use the current document. If you already have a pre-existing
letter, select Start from template or Start from existing
document and select a document using the controls below that.

o Click Next.

 Step 3, Select recipients: We will be using an existing data source.

o Select Use an existing list, then Select list

o You will see a Select a data source dialog box. Click My

Documents\OnMerge Examples, and select Directory Data
Source.mdb and click OK.

o Click Next back in the Mail Merge Wizard.

 Step 4, Arrange your directory:

o This directory is organized in two columns, with employee

information on right side and photo on the left. Therefore, you will
need to create a table with one row of columns covering the width
between the margins. Select [Word 2002 & 2003: Table + Insert +
Table] or [Word 2007 & 2010: Insert + Table + Insert Table…] as
shown.

How to Create a Directory or Catalog using OnMerge Images 2

Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
o Once your table comes up as shown,

drag the middle vertical line in the table to match the sample
directory shown at the top of these instructions.

o Click on the right column of directory and use the More items
button in the Mail Merge Wizard to insert in employee information.

o Click the area (left column) where you want the OnMerge Image
inserted. Click [Word 2002 & 2003: the button in the Mail Merge
toolbar] or [Word 2007 & 2010: Mailings + OnMerge Images] to
activate the OnMerge dialog box.

 Click Browse to tell OnMerge which folder your image

collection is located in. In this example, the folder is located
in My Documents\OnMerge Examples\Staff Portraits and
click OK. There is no need to select a specific image file,
just the folder the images are located in.

 In the first row under Type of name part, select Merge

Database and under Field Name, Bookmark or Text,
select First Name.

 The photos are named with employee first and last name
separated by a space. You must tell OnMerge Images to
include the space between first and last name. To do so,
How to Create a Directory or Catalog using OnMerge Images 3
Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
 click Field Name, Bookmark or Text, in the second row and
press the space bar once to insert a single space.

 In the third row under Type of name part, select Merge

Database and under Field Name, Bookmark or Text,
select Last Name. You will immediately see the employee’s
photo pop up for the first directory entry.

 You may use the controls to preview the

image for each photo.

 Select OK.

 The OnMerge Image will be displayed in your document with

small squares at the edge. Use the mouse to appropriately
size the image by dragging the bottom right corner. Click
outside the image to get rid of the small squares.

 Center the image in the column using Word’s text centering

feature.

o Click Next back in the Mail Merge Wizard.

 Step 5, Preview your directory: you may use the << and >> buttons in
the mail merge wizard to preview your finished directory entries.

 Step 6, Complete the merge: Click Merge to new document to create

a new Word document that contains all the directories entries stacked
on top of each other in the completed mail merge.

Sizing Images?
Different images that you merge in the same spot may have different sizes and orientations. When
you actually do the merge, OnMerge will size the image to the largest possible size that your master
template supports.
There are two ways to tell OnMerge what that maximum image size is. 1) On the Options tab of the
OnMerge dialog, set Image Box Width and Height; or, 2) Drag the image’s corner so that it fills the
maximum width and height (image box) that the image could possibly occupy in your layout. As you
drag the corner, note that the image may appear distorted or stretched but OnMerge will correctly
resize the image as soon as you click outside it.
OnMerge will remember the maximum image box you just sized and use that size in the
merge even though it does not appear on-screen in the master template. This means that,
unless all merged images have exactly the same proportions, you may end up with white or blank
space on sides or tops of the merged images since each merged image may have different
proportions than the maximum image box.

How to Create a Directory or Catalog using OnMerge Images 4

Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.