WD97: Suppressing Blank Spaces in a Print Merge (Mail Merge) (72441)

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a print merge (or mail merge) in Word for Windows, a blank space appears and is printed if one field on a line is blank. A common example of this situation is a line with three name fields, such as the following:

{FNAME} {MI} {LNAME}

In a record where all three fields are filled, the merged record spacing is correct, as in the following example:

Steven B. Levy

In a record where the middle initial field {MI} is blank, an extra space occurs in the merged record, as in the following example:

Fukiko Ogisu

Note: There are two spaces between the {FNAME} and {LNAME} results.

RESOLUTION

You can eliminate this extra space by using the conditional IF statements as in the following examples:

The following conditional IF field will eliminate a blank space caused by an empty middle initial field:

{FNAME} {IF {MI} <> "" "{MI} "}{LNAME}

The following conditional MERGEFIELD field will remove blank spaces in any field. For example, given the following fields,

{Prefix} {FirstName} {LastName}

the following conditional statements will properly suppress the space normally included for any blank fields:

{IF {MERGEFIELD Prefix}<>"" "{MERGEFIELD Prefix} "}
{IF {MERGEFIELD FirstName}<>"" "{MERGEFIELD FirstName} "}
{IF {MERGEFIELD LastName}<>"" "{MERGEFIELD LastName}"}

NOTE: To enter the field characters ({}), choose Field from the Insert menu (or press CTRL+F9).