Merging look up fields from access into MSWord

[bgibsonIYD]

I have a table Names which has the look up field State. The look up table has the following fields: StateID, Abbreviation, State

The StateID field is the primary key. When I merge the document into Word, the StateID shows up rather than the Abbreviation. How can I get this to show the Abbreviation rather than the ID? Beth
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[montrose]

Beth, Are you using the mail merge feature to do this? If so, what are you using as the sources of your mail merge? Instead of using just the table, you can make a query that includes your table Names and your look up table. Put the Abbreviation into the query instead of the StateID. Use that query as the source for your merge.

Additionally, you may want to remove the State ID (if you're using autonumber to generate that ID), and use the state's abbreviation as the id for that field would be a text field). I don't think that any state has the seem abbreviations, so it would be your unique identifier for that look up table.
Or don't use the built in lookup function in your table Names. Anytime you need to get the state abbreviation, just use the look up table as the source for your control (some 'experts' discourage use of the lookup ability in tables specifically because of the problem you've encountered).
If you want to keep the lookup in your table, change the column to the abbreviation fiedl instead of the id field and the state abbreviation will then always be what is visible. Hope I understood your question and that some of these suggestions/options work, if not post back. Montrose
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