WD: View Merged Data Doesn't Suppress Blank Lines

ID: Q105914

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a

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 a end-of-cell marker in labels or a Word table, Word cannot suppress a blank line when the MERGEFIELD is blank. However, Word will 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 Options. 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, 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 will not suppress blank lines correctly when the result of a MERGEFIELD is blank:

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

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

Keywords          : winword kbmerge macword word6 word7 word95 
Version           : MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a; WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: February 7, 1999