WD2000: View Merged Data Doesn't Suppress Blank Lines (214161)

SYMPTOMS

In a label mail merge main document, Word may not suppress blank lines when you view merged data (on the Mail Merge toolbar, click View Merged Data).

NOTE: The blank lines are correctly suppressed when the document is merged to a new document or merged to printer.

CAUSE

When a MERGEFIELD is followed by an end-of-cell marker in labels or a Word table, Word cannot suppress a blank line when the MERGEFIELD is blank. However, Word does suppress a blank line when the MERGEFIELD is followed by a paragraph mark.

NOTE: To view paragraph marks and end-of-cell markers, do one of the following:

On the Tools menu, click Preferences. On the View tab, click to select the All check box (listed under "Non-printing characters") and then click OK.

-or-
On the Standard toolbar, click Show/Hide.

WORKAROUND

To allow Word to suppress blank lines when you use View Merged Data, do the following. In your mail merge main document, position the insertion point immediately after the MERGEFIELD in a label or table cell and press ENTER to create a paragraph mark. Do this for each of the labels or table cells that contain MERGEFIELDS.

MORE INFORMATION

NOTE In the following examples, <P> represents a paragraph mark and [] represents a label (table) end-of-cell marker.

In the following example, Word does not suppress blank lines correctly when the result of a MERGEFIELD is blank:

{MERGEFIELD Name}<P>
{MERGEFIELD Number}[]

However, in this example, Word does suppress blank lines correctly when the result of a MERGEFIELD is blank:

{MERGEFIELD Name}<P>
{MERGEFIELD Number}<P>
[]