Unwanted spaces in address on envelopes

[jen]

I'm using Word for XP, and trying to create envelopes using mail-merge.
I have my addresses in an address book (Windows address book, I think).
I started using "insert fields" instead of "address block" because that was
causing problems.

Now, with the "insert fields", only half of the addresses are perfect, and
the other half have giant spaces between the street address and the city,
state and zip. Some are even aligned to the left.

I tried deleting the spaces on my own, but when I checked the envelope
again, the space had returned.
I checked my addresses in the address book for unwanted spaces, but there
were none.
How do I get rid of the spaces???

 

[Graham Mayor]

Provided the spaces are not in the data file, then you may have to use
conditional fields to inhibit spacing. Something along the lines of:

{Mergefield Address1}{IF {Mergefield Address2} <> "" "
{Mergefield Address2}{IF {Mergefield Address3} <> "" "
{Mergefield Address3}{IF {Mergefield Zip} <> "" "
{Mergefield Zip}

The field boundaries {} are inserted with CTRL+F9 and the fieldnames are
those from your data file.
What is happening here is that if the field is not empty, then the merge
will insert a line break and the field, otherwise it does nothing.

 

[jen]

Thanks for your reply Graham.
I tried doing what you said, but no info showed up from my address
book...obviously I did something wrong.
This is my first time using mail-merge, so I am a total newbie.

This is what I put into the address area:
{Mergefield Company}{IF {Mergefield Street Address} <> "" "
{Mergefield Street Address}{IF {Mergefield City } <> "" "
{Mergefield City}{IF {Mergefield State/Province} <> "" "
{Mergefield State/Province}{IF {Mergefield Zip Code} <> "" "
{Mergefield Zip Code}

I tried using the terms that my address book uses (Company, Street Address,
etc.),
but no data showed up at all.

I'm so confused, any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Graham Mayor]

Thanks to a typo on my part, I missed an important set of speech
marks.....sorry!
However you should not have been able to insert the fields as I wrote them
as one side of the field boundaries was missing. Fields are inserted with
CTRL+F9
Try again with the following

{Mergefield Company}{IF {Mergefield Street Address} <> "" "
{Mergefield Street Address}"}{IF {Mergefield City } <> "" "
{Mergefield City}"}{IF {Mergefield State/Province} <> "" "
{Mergefield State/Province}"}{IF {Mergefield Zip Code} <> "" "
{Mergefield Zip Code}"}

Does your address book have spaces in the field names? In which case you may
need:

{Mergefield Company}{IF {Mergefield "Street Address"} <> "" "
{Mergefield "Street Address"}"}{IF {Mergefield City } <> "" "
{Mergefield City}"}{IF {Mergefield "State/Province"} <> "" "
{Mergefield "State/Province"}"}{IF {Mergefield "Zip Code"} <> "" "
{Mergefield "Zip Code"}"}


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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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