Question about Mailmerge Directory

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Blasting Cap - 06 Sep 2005 21:23 GMT

I have an excel sheet that I'm printing a directory from. There are 4
fields at the end of the sheet that I would like printed out when the
mailmerge takes place.

However, what happens is that the mailmerge hangs up my computer for
some reason. The data structure is name & address info, with the final
4 fields being things like Family, Career, Awards and Remembrances. In
some cases, some of the fields would be submitted, some would not. For
instance, Person #1 may have nothing in those 4 fields, Person #2 may
have something in the last field. Person #3 would have something in
Fields 1, 2 and 4. Person # 4 would have something in all 4 fields.

The way it will "work" in the mailmerge is if I just have the fields
displayed in a list, like below:

Name
Address
* <<Family>>
* <<Career>>
* <<Awards>>
* <<Remembrances>>

What I want is to display a literal that is beside that field, if it is
there.

If person #2 has something in <<remembrances>> I'd like for it to be:

Person 2
Person2 Address
* Remembrances: some text about remembrances, etc.

where the literal "Remembrances:" is displayed there. I don't want
family, career and other displayed if the fields are blank.

Person #3 would be like:

Person 3
Person3 address
* Family: list family info
* Career: list career info
* Remembrances: list remembrances.

I've gone & edited the field and tried to put a literal there that would
display before the field, but the mailmerge hangs up on me, I am
guessing that it is doing it when there's nothing in that field.

Is there a way to do this to make it work so that if someone has filled
in only partial fields that the appropriate literal will display for
that entry?

Also, why is Mailmerge hanging up with me when I try to do this?

Thanks
BC

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Doug Robbins - 06 Sep 2005 21:32 GMT

You should be using an If...then...Else field that checks if each field is
blank and inserts whatever you mean by "a literal" if that field is not
blank.

Signature

Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

>I have an excel sheet that I'm printing a directory from. There are 4
>fields at the end of the sheet that I would like printed out when the
[quoted text clipped - 50 lines]
> Thanks
> BC

Reply to this Message

Blasting Cap - 06 Sep 2005 22:07 GMT

> You should be using an If...then...Else field that checks if each field is
> blank and inserts whatever you mean by "a literal" if that field is not
> blank.

Would doing this leave a blank line there if there was nothing to put in
the field?

Currently, it bumps the filled in fields one under the other, without a
blank line for an unused field.

BC

Reply to this Message

Doug Robbins - 07 Sep 2005 04:57 GMT

No, it doesn't have to if you set up a nested If...then...Else field
construction with carriage return/new line characters in the appropriate
position in the true/false results of the fields.

Signature

Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

>> You should be using an If...then...Else field that checks if each field
>> is blank and inserts whatever you mean by "a literal" if that field is
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> BC

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