Idea Transcript
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Microsoft Office Word – Mail Merge, Merge Fields, Rules and Conditions
Mailmerge using Microsoft Office Word (WinWord) is an easy task, as long as you go the mainstream way .. But sometimes you need to format the text based on conditions. That’s where the IF clause comes into action..
THE G E NE RA L P RO CE S S
Setting Up the Excel Source The first step is to set up the Excel file with information for people receiving the mailings. This may be provided for you already. If not, you will want to make sure that you put headings on all the columns. For example, on top of the column with first names, you will want a heading like FirstName. It is best not to use spaces or punctuation in this heading. Setting Up the Letter Next, open Word and write the letter, omitting any information that will be filled in from, or based on, the Excel file. Starting the Mail Merge Now, click on the Mailings tab. Click the Start Mail Merge button, and from the dropdown that appears, choose Letters. Nothing happens – don’t worry.
Connecting to the Excel File To connect your document to the Excel file, click the Select Recipients button and choose Use Existing List… Find the Excel file on your computer. When you are presented with a list of all the spreadsheets in your Excel file, choose the one with the case 2 strJobTitle="Job Title two" case else strJobTitle="job title else" end case hope that helps! cheer, chris
Ryan Lucas on March 6, 2012 at 06:13 said:
Any idea how to change the default location for mail merge when I select “use existing list?”
Linda on June 6, 2012 at 19:30 said:
I have an excel sheet that I want to merger with a word document list. I want the merge to continue untill all lines of the spreadsheet have been used then stop. How can I accomplish this?
Mandira on August 30, 2012 at 14:21 said:
Thanks
Nice and complete. Wondering how I can view/edit existing rules in a template ?
Vicki Yarnell on August 31, 2012 at 21:11 said:
How do I perform a conditional merge using different documents/letters? We have different letters for different gift categories so I’m not changing text, I want it to base my condition on the letter code. Unfortunately Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge has issues when trying to use the Wizard so I was trying to bypass it by just exporting the data and then merging the acknowledgment letters. Needless to say, I’m very fustrated. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Adam on September 4, 2012 at 20:09 said:
Hello, Thank you for a very informative post. I was wondering if you could help me solve a problem I’m having? I’m trying to have the mail merge rules read a field that either has a name or two names connected by and (ex: George; or George and Martha). If there is an “and” in the field, I want the program to include the text, “Please call us…”; if there is no “and”, insert the text, “Please call me…”. Any help you can provide would be most appreciated! Thank you in advance. Adam
Kathy on September 14, 2012 at 21:38 said:
My new job uses Word 2010, I’m used to an older version. I’m trying to do a mail merge on an existing document with a name field and employee ID field. I get through the merge okay and everything looks fine. Then I try to print it. As soon as I click on print all, a fill in box pops up. I have to click on that box once for each page I’m printing before anything will print, which means over 100 times. I’ve tried everything to get rid of this box, and our IT guy has never seen it before. Any clues as to what it may be. I can find no problem like this on the internet.
Anne on October 10, 2012 at 20:54 said:
Help! I need to write a statement with 3 possible outcomes like your example above, however I need to compare 2 merge fields (both numerical) to get those outcomes. What I want to say is ‘If mergefield1 is null, or mergefield2 is null, then display sentence1, if mergefield1 is greater than 4.5 or mergefield2 is greater than 4.5 then display sentence2, else display sentence3. I have tried this using this statement:{IF { = OR ({ COMPARE {MERGEFIELD1} = “”} , {COMPARE {MERGEFIELD2} = “”})} = 1 “sentence1” “{ IF { = OR ( { COMPARE {MERGEFIELD1} > 4.5 } , {COMPARE {MERGEFIELD2} > 4.5 })} = 1 “sentence2” “sentence3² }”} This syntax when applied ignores the nested if statement and only provides either sentence1 or sentence3 – I can’t see what is wrong with it!! Desperate!! Thank you
mythree rao on October 22, 2012 at 11:51 said:
thanks for ur suggestion
Mike White on November 27, 2012 at 22:21 said:
Christiano, How can I set up to do a Word letter merge only if the Email field of a dataset (In Excel) is blank. I don’t want to mail letters to people I have email addresses. Thanks, Mike
Larry Pensack on January 14, 2013 at 19:34 said:
Hi, I’m trying to make a mail merge document but would like to be able to position the data fields easily, so they don’t necessarily tie into the Word text. I’m trying to recreate a form in Word to do the mail merge. But I find that if I have to make a change, all lines below my change get affected. Is it possible to have fields that can be moved around? I realize that you can’t put a data field in a text box, but that’s essentially what I’d like to do. Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions. Regards, Larry Pensack
Kim on January 15, 2013 at 22:00 said:
I am having the same problem Anne is. Anne did you ever resolve your issue?
Ed on January 21, 2013 at 20:10 said:
When creating a Directory using Mail Merge, I’ve constructed the layout so that each record appears in a block of 10 lines per record. This is helpful because one record is not easy to read if squeezed onto one line. The problem is that some records are split between the bottom of one page and the top of the next. How can I prevent this split from happening?
Justjuls1 on January 21, 2013 at 21:00 said:
I am trying to create a document with a data field that could be a paragraph long, or completely empty, without changing the formatting of the pages that follow it. When the paragraph is typed in, the pages behind it get thrown off and print up 10 line lower than it would without the paragraph. I have pletny of room on that page for the paragraph. Suggestions?
Rich S on January 28, 2013 at 20:08 said:
I have sucessfully used the if….then clause, and typed in the appropriate “Insert This Text” and “Otherwise Insert This Text”. For “Insert This Text” I typed “Pass!”. And for “Otherwise Insert This Text” I typed “Fail.” My questions is, CAN I format the “Pass” to be back-filled green or typed in Green. And the “Fail” to be back-filled Red or typed in Red. Therefore as each result is inserted it is also appropriately auto formatted.
Rich S on March 20, 2013 at 18:14 said:
I figured it out. After you construct the If then statement, from the document, go to the result text you typed in the “Insert This Text” and “Otherwise Insert This Text” and Rt click. Choose “toggle field codes” and you will see the Macro constructed. Format the text between the ” ” on the document you typed and apply any formatting you select.
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kristine kim on May 24, 2013 at 02:28 said:
hello – i’m in the middle of a fairly extensive form i’m ‘automating’. is there a way to trigger a word 2010 checkbox content control to check and uncheck depending on the value in the excel spreadsheet? thank you in advance for any information you can provide. -kk
Jo Soars on August 4, 2013 at 18:48 said:
Can I write a command that says If “field name” is “not blank” then write “this” but if it is blank do not do anything NOT even leave a blank line just skip to the next field! I have my document set up just how I want it but if my field is blank it leaves a line. I want to get rid of all these spare lines but cannot work out how. I am writing an invoice for a preschool and children do different sessions to others. I want their sessions to show up on invoice but I do not want there to be spaces where there are days that they do not attend! Hope that this makes sense!
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Tess on August 19, 2013 at 19:26 said:
I’m trying to automate a document using word 2010 mail merge. Do you know how to insert a merge field within a merge field? The text to be merged is coming from an excel spreadsheet. Getting data from excel is not a problem. Here is an example of what I’d like to do Contents of excel cells are: A1: The maximum size of the class is X, and the appropriate number of booklets will be provided. B1: 40 If A1 is not blank, I want to replace the “X” in A1 with the contents of B1, so the final result would be: The maximum size of the class is 40, and the appropriate number of booklets will be provided. I have been able to do it using switches \f and \b, but was hoping to be able to insert the B1 merge field inside the A1 merge field so when I make changes/updates to the text I can do it all in excel. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Toni on October 26, 2013 at 00:48 said:
I’m not having fun with mail merge. the sentence reads: You have «balance» 2013 unused vacation hours remaining as of 12/31/13. The balance is coming over correctly. However, I’m trying to add a ‘skip record if service is