Using Unique Document Serial Numbers

There may be times you want to include a unique serial number in your documents, and the serial numbers much be specific and non-sequential. For instance, the first serial number could be X2417, the next one X2428, the third X2435, etc.

Assuming you know what serial numbers you need to use, the quickest way to handle this situation is to use the mail-merge features of Word to create your final documents. To do this, follow these general steps:

1. Create a document that contains nothing but the serial numbers. Put the serial numbers in a table, one serial number per row. Make sure there is a header on the table, and the header is named something like "Serial Number."
2. Load your target document, the one you want to contain the serial number.
3. If you are using Word 97 or Word 2000, choose Mail Merge from the Tools menu to display the Mail Merge Helper dialog box. If you are using Word 2002 or Word 2003, choose Letters and Mailings from the Tools menu, then choose Mail Merge to display the Mail Merge task pane. If you are using Word 2007, choose Start Mail Merge from the Start Mail Merge group of the Mailings tab of the ribbon and then choose the type of merge you want to do.
4. Go through the steps of specifying your main document (the one you loaded in step 2) and your data source (the one you created in step 1).
5. In your main document, insert a merge field that indicates where you want the serial number to appear.
6. Print your mail-merged documents.

The primary advantage of this approach is that you can use non-sequential serial numbers. You can also change the contents of your serial number file whenever you need a new batch of documents, and simply print again.