WD: Mail Merge Does Not Merge Hidden Character Formatting

ID: Q116475

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

If a Microsoft Word mail merge data document contains hidden text formatting, the text appears without the hidden format after Word performs the merge. In Word 2.x for Windows and Word 5.x for the Macintosh, the field that contains the hidden text is ignored.

CAUSE

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Word. The mail merge main document controls the formatting of text during a merge.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use any of the following methods.

Method 1: Format the Merge Field in the Mail Merge Main Document as Hidden

Format the merge field in the mail merge main document as hidden. When the merge is performed, the result of this field is hidden text.

Method 2: Remove the Word "mergefield" from the Merge Field

Remove the word "mergefield" from the merge field in the main document. To do this, begin by displaying field codes (press ALT+F9). Delete the word "mergefield" from within the field code. Ignore the "Error! Bookmark not defined" message and perform the merge. The result after the merge is hidden text.

Method 3: Replace the MERGEFIELD Field with a REF Field

Turn on field codes (by pressing ALT+F9), and replace the word "mergefield" with the word "ref" (without the quotation marks) in the field code. The merge will generate hidden text for this field.

Method 2 and method 3 do not permit you to suppress blank lines when a field in the data file is empty. Method 1 automatically suppresses the blank lines.

Additional query words: mail merge hidden format character font 

Keywords          : kbdta wordnt word8 macword98 winword kbmerge ntword macword word6 word7 word95 
Version           : WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a; MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: December 10, 1998