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Problem: "No text on this slide matches field names in your data file"
Problem
You start a merge and receive an error message:
No text on this slide matches field names in your data file
What's happening?
Before starting a merge, PPTMerge looks at the field names in your data file then searches for matching merge fields in your PPT merge template file. If it doesn't find any matches, you'll see this message.
If there are no matching fields, there's nothing for Merge to do, so it stops at this point.
But there ARE matching fields in my presentation! Part One
Merge tests the fieldnames in your data file to ensure that they're properly formatted and contain no invalid characters. If you've corrected problem fieldnames in the data file but not in your PPT template, Merge won't find any fields to merge.
But there ARE matching fields in my presentation! Part Two
This can sometimes happen for other reasons. Merge looks at text in:
- Text placeholders
- Text boxes and other shapes
- Word Art
- Tables
Merge doesn't look at the text in:
- Charts and graphs
- Pictures/Graphics
- SmartArt
- OLE objects
If you have merge fields in shapes on this second list, you can usually solve the problem as follows:
- In PowerPoint 2003 or previous
- Click the shape to select it
- Press Ctrl+C to copy the shape
- From the main menu bar, choose Edit, Paste Special and pick Enhanced Metafile (EMF)
- Delete the original shape or move it off the slide
- Ungroup then re-group the newly-pasted enhanced metafile
- In PowerPoint 2007
- Click the shape to select it
- Press Ctrl+C to copy the shape
- On the Home tab, click the downward pointing arrowhead beneath Paste, choose Paste Special and pick Enhanced Metafile (EMF)
- Delete the original shape or move it off the slide
- Ungroup then re-group the newly-pasted enhanced metafile
Merge will now be able to examine the text inside this new shape and will find merge fields included in the text.
If copy/pasting as EMF doesn't preserve the formatting well enough, another approach is to remove any text with merge fields from the original shape, then add new text boxes atop it and put the text, including merge fields, in the new text boxes.
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