Document formatting is not retained during MailMerge

Question

I am trying to automate a MailMerge and have managed to get it almost complete. I can produce the individual docs and merge them. The problem is that during the "InsertFile" call, the document is reformatted, and it ruins the document. Because the document is a letter, and the address information must print in the same spot, I'm stuck until I can correct the formatting. The function I'm using is below. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. I haven't been able to find anything online in a day of searching.

    public bool mailMergeWithTemplate(string strTemplatePath, string strDestinationPath, DataSet dsData, out string strError)
    {
        strError = "";
        object objMissing = Missing.Value; //null value
        object objTrue = true;
        object objFalse = false;
        object objTemplatePath = strTemplatePath;
        object objOutputPath = strDestinationPath;
        object objOutputPathTemp = strDestinationPath.Substring(0, strDestinationPath.IndexOf(".docx")) + "_temp.docx";
        object sectionStart = WdSectionStart.wdSectionNewPage;

        Application objWord = null;

        try
        {
            objWord = new Application { Visible = true };

            //create an empty document into which we will insert all the merge docs
            var objFinalWordDoc = objWord.Documents.Add(ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);

            //for each record in the dataset
            var count = 1;

            foreach (DataRow dr in dsData.Tables[0].Rows)
            {
                //insert a document for each record
                var objWordDoc = objWord.Documents.Add(ref objTemplatePath, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);
                if (objWordDoc.Fields.Count == 0)
                    return false;

                objWordDoc.Activate();

                // Perform mail merge of each field
                foreach (Field myMergeField in objWordDoc.Fields)
                {
                    var rngFieldCode = myMergeField.Code;
                    var strFieldText = rngFieldCode.Text;

                    // ONLY GET THE MAILMERGE FIELDS
                    if (!strFieldText.StartsWith(" MERGEFIELD")) continue;

                    var strFieldName = string.Empty;

                    if (!strFieldText.Contains("Account"))
                    {
                        var intEndMerge = strFieldText.IndexOf("\\");
                        strFieldName = strFieldText.Substring(11, intEndMerge - 11);
                    }
                    else
                        strFieldName = "Account";

                    strFieldName = strFieldName.Trim().Replace("\"", "");

                    //find a matching dataset column
                    foreach (DataColumn col in dsData.Tables[0].Columns)
                    {
                        var strKey = col.ColumnName;
                        var strValue = dr[strKey].ToString();

                        if (strFieldName != strKey) continue;

                        myMergeField.Select();
                        objWord.Selection.TypeText(strValue);
                    }
                }
                //SAVE THE DOCUMENT as temp
                objWordDoc.SaveAs(ref objOutputPathTemp, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing,
                                    ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing,
                                    ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing,
                                    ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);

                //CLOSE THE DOCUMENT
                objWordDoc.Close(ref objFalse, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);
                Marshal.ReleaseComObject(objWordDoc);
                objWordDoc = null;

                //NOW ADD THE NEW DOC TO THE MAIN DOC
                objFinalWordDoc.Activate();
                objWord.Selection.InsertFile(objOutputPathTemp.ToString(),
                                                ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);

                if(count < dsData.Tables[0].Rows.Count)
                    objWord.Selection.InsertBreak(ref sectionStart);

                count++;
            }

            //SAVE THE FINAL DOC
            objFinalWordDoc.SaveAs(ref objOutputPath, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing,
                                    ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing,
                                    ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing,
                                    ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);

            //CLOSE THE FINAL DOC
            objFinalWordDoc.Close(ref objFalse, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);
            Marshal.ReleaseComObject(objFinalWordDoc);
            objFinalWordDoc = null;

            //now delete the temp file
            File.Delete(objOutputPathTemp.ToString());

            return true;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            strError = ex.Message;
        }
        finally
        {
            //RELEASE WORD ITSELF
            if (objWord != null)
            {
                objWord.Quit(ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);
                Marshal.ReleaseComObject(objWord);
            }
            objWord = null;

            GC.Collect();
        }

        return false;
    }

The issue occurs here:

objWord.Selection.InsertFile(objOutputPathTemp.ToString(),
                                                ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing, ref objMissing);

So does anyone have any thoughts as to how I can rectify this issue?

Answer 1

Assuming you have control over the content of the inserted file,

• Ensure that the inserted file has no section breaks.
• Select the entire content of the inserted file except the final paragraph mark (which "carries" the section/document formatting information). Let's say you call the bookmark "theContent"
• Specify "theContent" as the 'Range" parameter (i.e. the 2nd parameter) of the InsertFile call