format merge document

L

lost in cincy

i have formatted a word doc that part of the doc is centered and the next
part is left justified. when i complete the merge, the first document is
fine, but the next is all centered, then some centered and some to the left.
there is no consistancy to the mix up. i have tried to use section breaks to
keep the formatting, but that does not work either. i'm using word 2003. any
suggestions????
 
C

Cindy M -WordMVP-

Hi =?Utf-8?B?bG9zdCBpbiBjaW5jeQ==?=,
i have formatted a word doc that part of the doc is centered and the next
part is left justified. when i complete the merge, the first document is
fine, but the next is all centered, then some centered and some to the left.
there is no consistancy to the mix up. i have tried to use section breaks to
keep the formatting, but that does not work either. i'm using word 2003. any
suggestions????
Click to expand...
My inclination is to say that you need to set up and use paragraph styles to
enforce consistency. Although I wouldn't really have expected what you describe
in any case...

Can you list steps for setting up the main merge document that we can use to
reproduce the problem?

Are you creating a form letter or directory type of merge?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :)
 
L

lost in cincy

here is what i have done:
type in my merge fields and other information, formating as i go, ex.
courtname(centered), return, business name (left) return, attorney name
(left) return, atty address (left) return, vs.(left), return, name 1(left)
return, address (left) return, city state zip (left) return, then the "body"
of the pleading, which is mostly the same, but had some additional merge
fields. the alignment in the body of the pleading is fine. the top part is
giving me the problems. once everything is typed, i go through the merge
process and complete the merge. merge 1 and 2 are fine, merge 3 the business
name and attorney name are centered, merge 4... the whole top part, before
the body, is all centered. I'm not sure if that's what you are looking for.
thanks for your help
becky
 
C

Cindy M -WordMVP-

Hi =?Utf-8?B?bG9zdCBpbiBjaW5jeQ==?=,
here is what i have done:
type in my merge fields and other information, formating as i go, ex.
courtname(centered), return, business name (left) return, attorney name
(left) return, atty address (left) return, vs.(left), return, name 1(left)
return, address (left) return, city state zip (left) return, then the "body"
of the pleading, which is mostly the same, but had some additional merge
fields. the alignment in the body of the pleading is fine. the top part is
giving me the problems. once everything is typed, i go through the merge
process and complete the merge. merge 1 and 2 are fine, merge 3 the business
name and attorney name are centered, merge 4... the whole top part, before
the body, is all centered. I'm not sure if that's what you are looking for.
Click to expand...
OK, that gives me a general idea how the document is set up... I'm not sure what
I'm looking for, either :) I was interested in whether you were applying any
styles, for one thing. And whether you were pressing Return or Shift+Return.

Are you inserting the top part of the information into a frame, table, text box,
or anything like that?

Is there any chance you'd be typing any of the text within a merge field? (Like,
you insert a field, then go back at some point and click near the end of the
field to type some more text?) Using IF fields?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :)
 
L

lost in cincy

i'm not using any styles, as least I don't think so ( I don't know how to use
them as I have not set anything up). I usually just press return- what is the
difference between return and Shift+return??
I'm not using any frame, text box, etx.
Yes, i'm using merge fields that I could later go back and make changes to
and yes im using if fields. thanks
becky
 
C

Cindy M -WordMVP-

Hi =?Utf-8?B?bG9zdCBpbiBjaW5jeQ==?=,
i'm not using any styles, as least I don't think so ( I don't know how to use
them as I have not set anything up). I usually just press return- what is the
difference between return and Shift+return??
Click to expand...
Return creates a new paragraph; Shift+return a new line within a paragraph.
yes im using if fields
Click to expand...
OK. And are any IF fields involved in the paragraphs that are doing the
shifting? It's very difficult (if not impossible) to control combinations of
paragraph formatting (such as center and left) as the result of IF fields.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :)
 
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