Mail Merge Question: Skipping Field that is blank

M

me04984

I set up a catalog merge, it works just fine, i can print it off and
everything is perfect, except for the blank lines showing up. What step am i
not doing to see the Print Merge show up?
 
M

me04984

Ok, I went thru each step again! I wasn't saving the first part. so now I
come to print merge and it only shows one per page but worse yet, it says it
cannot print because I don't have CMYK orlater. I looked on my printer and
that part is grayed out. How do I get the CMYK OR SEPARATIONS feature?
 
M

Mary Sauer

Mail Merge
A mail merge creates a unique document for each record in the mail merge. It is
usually not desirable to apply a mail merge (create individually unique
publications) and to convert the publication to process mode for printing to an
outside printer (for mass production) at the same time. For this reason,
Publisher 2002 is designed to cancel these mutually exclusive features.

If you enable your document for one of the process color modes, and then you
click Mail Merge on the Tools menu, the Mail Merge Wizard and other options are
not available.

If you start the Mail Merge Wizard and select your data source, the Color
Printing option under Commercial Printing Tools on the Tools menu is not
available.
 
M

me04984

Mary,
I followed the instructions as you told me precicely and it didn't work. Now
you are telling me that I shouldn't do it this way. How, then should I do it?
Thinking it was a problem that I had encountered because of having two older
printers and they both gave me the same message, I went out an purchased a
new one. Now that one is saying the same thing.
Would you be so kind as to tell me step by step how to do this? I have a
large data base to put into a Directory for a non-profit organization and am
up against a deadline and am not understanding what you are trying to tell
me. It seems like we are going around in circles.
 
J

JoAnn Paules

What I've had success with is to merge into Word and then copy and paste it
into Publisher. Please bear in mind that what I am creating is a list of
over 600 participants with their addresses, phone numbers, chapter
affiliation, and class numbers.

--

JoAnn Paules
Microsoft MVP - Publisher

How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
M

me04984

JoAnn,
thanks for the idea, I may have to do that. The publisher catalog merge
sounded so easy and simple but it's really not. What did you do, set up Word
with tables and then merge the addresses in it? I have over 1100 in 26
chapters with name, address, phone, email and chapter. So I should probably
put them all into one Excel file and then merge into Word? Any help you can
give me I'd appreciate as I'm getting nowhere but frustrated with the
Publisher catalog merge and I'm under a time pressure.
if you want to email me directly. (e-mail address removed) thanks a million!
melanie
 
J

JoAnn Paules

Mine is just a list.

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

etc.
This goes one for about 30 pages, three columns wide. No tables.

I'm curious what kind of group you're doing yours for. :)

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
 
M

Mary Sauer

Why aren't you using the catalog merge? It is the right application for a
directory.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/


JoAnn Paules said:
Mine is just a list.

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

etc.
This goes one for about 30 pages, three columns wide. No tables.

I'm curious what kind of group you're doing yours for. :)

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


me04984 said:
JoAnn,
thanks for the idea, I may have to do that. The publisher catalog merge
sounded so easy and simple but it's really not. What did you do, set up Word
with tables and then merge the addresses in it? I have over 1100 in 26
chapters with name, address, phone, email and chapter. So I should probably
put them all into one Excel file and then merge into Word? Any help you can
give me I'd appreciate as I'm getting nowhere but frustrated with the
Publisher catalog merge and I'm under a time pressure.
if you want to email me directly. (e-mail address removed) thanks a million!
melanie
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
J

JoAnn Paules

I wasn't doing the final handbook and the woman I was helping isn't
experienced with merges. The database was sent to me in Access and the
editor doesn't have that. Plus she has limited experience with Excel. I
needed to get her something she could easily (and quickly) copy and paste
into her Publisher file. All of this was being done via email.

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


Mary Sauer said:
Why aren't you using the catalog merge? It is the right application for a
directory.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

JoAnn Paules said:
Mine is just a list.

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

etc.
This goes one for about 30 pages, three columns wide. No tables.

I'm curious what kind of group you're doing yours for. :)

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


me04984 said:
JoAnn,
thanks for the idea, I may have to do that. The publisher catalog merge
sounded so easy and simple but it's really not. What did you do, set up
Word
with tables and then merge the addresses in it? I have over 1100 in 26
chapters with name, address, phone, email and chapter. So I should
probably
put them all into one Excel file and then merge into Word? Any help you
can
give me I'd appreciate as I'm getting nowhere but frustrated with the
Publisher catalog merge and I'm under a time pressure.
if you want to email me directly. (e-mail address removed) thanks a
million!
melanie


:

What I've had success with is to merge into Word and then copy and
paste it
into Publisher. Please bear in mind that what I am creating is a list
of
over 600 participants with their addresses, phone numbers, chapter
affiliation, and class numbers.

--

JoAnn Paules
Microsoft MVP - Publisher

How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375



Further I am not trying to use color. it's just names and addresses
in
black
print.

:

Mail Merge
A mail merge creates a unique document for each record in the mail
merge.
It is
usually not desirable to apply a mail merge (create individually
unique
publications) and to convert the publication to process mode for
printing
to an
outside printer (for mass production) at the same time. For this
reason,
Publisher 2002 is designed to cancel these mutually exclusive
features.

If you enable your document for one of the process color modes, and
then
you
click Mail Merge on the Tools menu, the Mail Merge Wizard and other
options are
not available.

If you start the Mail Merge Wizard and select your data source, the
Color
Printing option under Commercial Printing Tools on the Tools menu is
not
available.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

Ok, I went thru each step again! I wasn't saving the first part.
so
now I
come to print merge and it only shows one per page but worse yet,
it
says it
cannot print because I don't have CMYK orlater. I looked on my
printer
and
that part is grayed out. How do I get the CMYK OR SEPARATIONS
feature?


:

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.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

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

:

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

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

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.

:

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


--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

message
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?


:

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

:

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.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
M

me04984

Mine is simply two columns of
Name
Address
city, state, zip
Phone
e-mail
Chapter

Now I am making some changes on the other pages and cannot even print it
off. A message keeps coming up that says. "Publisher cannot print this
publication.To print composite CMYK or separations, you must use a printer
driver that is set to output PostScript language level 2 or later."

Now this is after I have printed off many pages since starting this project
in an effort to perfect the booklet. Mary, what does this mean? I have three
printers and and it says the same thing on all of them!

Melanie



JoAnn Paules said:
Mine is just a list.

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

etc.
This goes one for about 30 pages, three columns wide. No tables.

I'm curious what kind of group you're doing yours for. :)

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


me04984 said:
JoAnn,
thanks for the idea, I may have to do that. The publisher catalog merge
sounded so easy and simple but it's really not. What did you do, set up
Word
with tables and then merge the addresses in it? I have over 1100 in 26
chapters with name, address, phone, email and chapter. So I should
probably
put them all into one Excel file and then merge into Word? Any help you
can
give me I'd appreciate as I'm getting nowhere but frustrated with the
Publisher catalog merge and I'm under a time pressure.
if you want to email me directly. (e-mail address removed) thanks a
million!
melanie
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
M

Mary Sauer

These articles may help
You receive a Publisher cannot continue error message when you try to print a
mail merge in Publisher 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828505/en-us
"Publisher cannot print CMYK composite... " error message and Publisher 2003
quits unexpectedly when you try to print a mail merge
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826451/

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/


me04984 said:
Mine is simply two columns of
Name
Address
city, state, zip
Phone
e-mail
Chapter

Now I am making some changes on the other pages and cannot even print it
off. A message keeps coming up that says. "Publisher cannot print this
publication.To print composite CMYK or separations, you must use a printer
driver that is set to output PostScript language level 2 or later."

Now this is after I have printed off many pages since starting this project
in an effort to perfect the booklet. Mary, what does this mean? I have three
printers and and it says the same thing on all of them!

Melanie



JoAnn Paules said:
Mine is just a list.

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

Name
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
Chapter, region
Class number

etc.
This goes one for about 30 pages, three columns wide. No tables.

I'm curious what kind of group you're doing yours for. :)

--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


me04984 said:
JoAnn,
thanks for the idea, I may have to do that. The publisher catalog merge
sounded so easy and simple but it's really not. What did you do, set up
Word
with tables and then merge the addresses in it? I have over 1100 in 26
chapters with name, address, phone, email and chapter. So I should
probably
put them all into one Excel file and then merge into Word? Any help you
can
give me I'd appreciate as I'm getting nowhere but frustrated with the
Publisher catalog merge and I'm under a time pressure.
if you want to email me directly. (e-mail address removed) thanks a
million!
melanie


:

What I've had success with is to merge into Word and then copy and paste
it
into Publisher. Please bear in mind that what I am creating is a list of
over 600 participants with their addresses, phone numbers, chapter
affiliation, and class numbers.

--

JoAnn Paules
Microsoft MVP - Publisher

How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375



Further I am not trying to use color. it's just names and addresses in
black
print.

:

Mail Merge
A mail merge creates a unique document for each record in the mail
merge.
It is
usually not desirable to apply a mail merge (create individually
unique
publications) and to convert the publication to process mode for
printing
to an
outside printer (for mass production) at the same time. For this
reason,
Publisher 2002 is designed to cancel these mutually exclusive
features.

If you enable your document for one of the process color modes, and
then
you
click Mail Merge on the Tools menu, the Mail Merge Wizard and other
options are
not available.

If you start the Mail Merge Wizard and select your data source, the
Color
Printing option under Commercial Printing Tools on the Tools menu is
not
available.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

Ok, I went thru each step again! I wasn't saving the first part. so
now I
come to print merge and it only shows one per page but worse yet, it
says it
cannot print because I don't have CMYK orlater. I looked on my
printer
and
that part is grayed out. How do I get the CMYK OR SEPARATIONS
feature?


:

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.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

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

:

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

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

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.

:

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


--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/
http://msauer.mvps.org/
news://msnews.microsoft.com

message
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?


:

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

:

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.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
A

alwein

Mary,
I have a mail list that works as you describe and just fine. I am now
trying to do a directory and at no point do I get "Don't Print Blank Lines".
Is that how it is? Do I need to use "If Then Else"? Seems to be the same in
WORD and Publisher.
 
M

Mary Sauer

There is no "If Then Else" in Publisher. There is a check-off about not printing
blank lines on the print merge screen. It is always checked by default.
 

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