A client asked me recently how she could put serial numbers in her documents. The catch was that the serial numbers were unique (i.e., B2398, B 3487, B4576, etc.)
Let’s assume that you know what serial numbers you need to use for your document. If that is the case, the most efficient method to do this would be to use the mail-merge features in Word to create your final documents.
Follow the steps below to learn how:
- Create a document that will contain only your serial numbers.
- Create a table in your document for the serial numbers, with one cell for each number.
- Be certain there is a header in your table and name it Serial Number.
- Open the document in which you would like to use the serial number.
- On your Ribbon, display the Mailings tab.
- In the Start Mail Merge group, click the Start Mail Merge tool.
- Using the on-screen controls, select the type of merge that you would like.
- Utilizing all the steps in your main document and your data source (the document containing all of our serial numbers).
- In your main document, insert a merge field that indicates where you would like your serial number to appear.
- Print your mail-merged documents.
The big advantage of using this method is that you can use non-sequential serial numbers. Also, you are able to change the contents of your serial number file whenever you need a new batch of documents and then simply print once more!