Mail Merge Question: Skipping Field that is blank

[Alcide]

Hello All,

When merging data into a Publisher 2003 mail merge field is there a way to
skip or not print a field if it is blank (or some other criteria), as one can
do in Word. Consider the case where there is a field for Middle Initial, but
many people don't have them or don't use them. Without being able to skip the
blank fields I get an extra space, which is visually awful.

Any help or hints on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

 

[Brian Kvalheim [MSFT MVP]]

Alcide wrote:
|| Hello All,
||
|| When merging data into a Publisher 2003 mail merge field is there a
|| way to skip or not print a field if it is blank (or some other
|| criteria), as one can do in Word. Consider the case where there is a
|| field for Middle Initial, but many people don't have them or don't
|| use them. Without being able to skip the blank fields I get an extra
|| space, which is visually awful.
||
|| Any help or hints on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
||
|| Thanks in advance for the assistance.

When you go to File > Print be sure to put a check mark to not print blank
lines.
--
Brian Kvalheim
Microsoft Publisher MVP
http://www.publishermvps.com

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.

 

[JoAnn Paules [MSFT MVP]]

I combined the middle initial with the first name in my lists - for the
exact reason you cite.

 

[Alcide]

Hello Brian and JoAnne,

Sounds good! I will try it out tomorrow in the office and see if that does
the trick. I still plan to check the Object Explorer to see if there is
anything under the Mail Merge object that can customized.

Will report back if I have a problem with Brians solutions.

Thanks a bunch!!

 

[JoAnn Paules [MSFT MVP]]

It's not necessarily a blank line. It could just be a blank space which
would end up being <first name>-space-<null entry>-space-<last name>. That
double space stands out like .............. a person wearing clothes at a
nudist camp. (Sorry - couldn't think of a better analogy.)

 

[Alcide]

Hello JoAnn and All,

Excellent clarification, JoAnn (please pardon last post's misspelling). That
extra space comes out looking real ucky and unprofessional. I will try
tomorrow to see if suppressing printing of blank lines also prevents

I'm think along the lines of a workaround on server side would be to create
a concatenation field bringing together the parts of the name in the field,
adding extra logic or function to deal with the blank field, such as TRIM.

Wow, a real problem. Gotta put some work into this. Will report back....

Well see what

It's not necessarily a blank line. It could just be a blank space which
would end up being <first name>-space-<null entry>-space-<last name>. That
double space stands out like .............. a person wearing clothes at a
nudist camp. (Sorry - couldn't think of a better analogy.)

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

Alcide wrote:
|| Hello All,
||
|| When merging data into a Publisher 2003 mail merge field is there a
|| way to skip or not print a field if it is blank (or some other
|| criteria), as one can do in Word. Consider the case where there is a
|| field for Middle Initial, but many people don't have them or don't
|| use them. Without being able to skip the blank fields I get an extra
|| space, which is visually awful.
||
|| Any help or hints on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
||
|| Thanks in advance for the assistance.

When you go to File > Print be sure to put a check mark to not print blank
lines.
--
Brian Kvalheim
Microsoft Publisher MVP
http://www.publishermvps.com

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.

 

[JoAnn Paules [MSFT MVP]]

It's funny how such a little thing often isn't such a little thing.

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

Hello JoAnn and All,

Excellent clarification, JoAnn (please pardon last post's misspelling).
That
extra space comes out looking real ucky and unprofessional. I will try
tomorrow to see if suppressing printing of blank lines also prevents

I'm think along the lines of a workaround on server side would be to
create
a concatenation field bringing together the parts of the name in the
field,
adding extra logic or function to deal with the blank field, such as TRIM.

Wow, a real problem. Gotta put some work into this. Will report back....

Well see what

It's not necessarily a blank line. It could just be a blank space which
would end up being <first name>-space-<null entry>-space-<last name>.
That
double space stands out like .............. a person wearing clothes at a
nudist camp. (Sorry - couldn't think of a better analogy.)

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]



message

Alcide wrote:
|| Hello All,
||
|| When merging data into a Publisher 2003 mail merge field is there a
|| way to skip or not print a field if it is blank (or some other
|| criteria), as one can do in Word. Consider the case where there is a
|| field for Middle Initial, but many people don't have them or don't
|| use them. Without being able to skip the blank fields I get an extra
|| space, which is visually awful.
||
|| Any help or hints on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
||
|| Thanks in advance for the assistance.

When you go to File > Print be sure to put a check mark to not print
blank
lines.
--
Brian Kvalheim
Microsoft Publisher MVP
http://www.publishermvps.com

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.

 

[Alcide]

(Got an error message on the last post send. Please pardon if this is a
repeat.)

Hello Brian et. al.,

I couldn't find the "not print blank lines" option under File>Print. Is it
somwhere else?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[Alcide]

Hello Brian et. al.,

I don't see the "not print blank lines" option when I go to File>Print. Is
it somewhere else?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[Mary Sauer]

File, print merge, there is a check box, "Don't print lines that contain empty
fields."

 

[Suds]

I am attempting to merge data fields from MS-Excel 2000 into a document
created in MS-Publisher 2000. I too want to supress printing a blank field as
described here. I have tried the feature in the Print Merge dialog, "Don't
print lines that contain only empty fields," but I still get a blank line.

I thought perhaps there was some hidden character in the field, so I
recreated the merge file as ASCII instead of excel and tried again. However,
I got the same result.

Any hints?

Thanks

 

[Jen Gregory]

Suds... did anyone ever help you figure this out because I'm in the same boat
but in MS Word...

 

[Mary Sauer]

All the questions you have about Word merge is answered here:
About mail-merge fields
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP030820251033.aspx

 

[torana_girl77]

Alcide,
I can't help as i am in the same boat but i was wondering if you can tell me
how to do it word. i can't seem to find the answer anywhere.

Thanks Peta

 

[me04984]

I would like to know this too, did anyone ever find an answer. I checked all
the resources listed and it doesn't address this issue. My addresses have
four or five lines and if one is skipped, it looks like the fifth one goes
with the next one. How can I make it fill in and not show a blank line?

 

[Mary Sauer]

There is a check-off in the print dialogue that says "Don't print lines that
contain only empty fields."

 

[me04984]

Mary, I have seen that as a solution here but have looked again and again and
again and do not find it in my Publisher 2003. Can you be more specific as to
where i is? Maybe I don't know what "print dialog" means.

 

[Mary Sauer]

File, print merge...this is the print dialog to which I am referring.

 

[me04984]

Under file, my only options are Page Setup, Print View, and Print. there is
not a Print Merge option. what next?

 

[Mary Sauer]

You must setup your merge and then the print merge dialogue will be available.

Open help, scroll down to Mail Merge, expand, click on Create a mail merge.