Word Mailmerge format change mid-field

[Mike Trout]

Using Word 2003. I have a series of contracts and other documents that are
created using a Word mailmerge from a dBase .dbf file. The dbf is in
Version 4 format. (at least, I'm told it's in db4 format - my old copy of
dBase 5 for DOS opens it fine, so it isn't in anything newer than V. 5
format)

In many of the documents, the name, address, etc. fields change
typestyle/format mid-field. For example, the address "12345 W. Wagon Wheel
Drive" The "12345" is in 11pt Times New Roman , and "W. Wagon Wheel Drive"
is in 12pt Arial Bold. (point sizes approx. from printed page) On another
field the name "George Jetson" has "George" in 11pt Times New Roman and
"Jetson" is in 12pt Arial Bold. Most of the documents have the 'normal'
font set to 11pt Times New Roman Bold, but some are just 11pt Times New
Roman. It appears the first word of the inserted field matches the rest of
the document's format and then the format changes mid-field. In my base
documents, the name is repeated correctly in Arial 10pt (by design) in the
header, and it comes out correct, but in the text of the contract the name
(which is supposed to be the style of the body text) is mixed up.

I wonder if there's some hidden format changes in the original document I
can't see? The merge field codes itself matches the format of the rest of
the document (as it should), but when merged and printed (automatically by
the program - I suppose I could change my program so it doesn't print, it
just stops but I haven't yet) I get the odd formatting.

Is there some way to see if there is odd formatting? (Like the old word
Perfect had 'reveal codes' where you could see every formatting code)

Thanks for any help and/or ideas.

Mike.

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi Mike,

In the main merge document press Alt+F9 to toggle on the field codes. Do you
see \* MergeFormat at the end of the mergefields that display such problems?
If you do, try changing that to \* CharFormat and see if the problem goes
away?

Using Word 2003. I have a series of contracts and other documents that are
created using a Word mailmerge from a dBase .dbf file. The dbf is in
Version 4 format. (at least, I'm told it's in db4 format - my old copy of
dBase 5 for DOS opens it fine, so it isn't in anything newer than V. 5
format)

In many of the documents, the name, address, etc. fields change
typestyle/format mid-field. For example, the address "12345 W. Wagon Wheel
Drive" The "12345" is in 11pt Times New Roman , and "W. Wagon Wheel Drive"
is in 12pt Arial Bold. (point sizes approx. from printed page) On another
field the name "George Jetson" has "George" in 11pt Times New Roman and
"Jetson" is in 12pt Arial Bold. Most of the documents have the 'normal'
font set to 11pt Times New Roman Bold, but some are just 11pt Times New
Roman. It appears the first word of the inserted field matches the rest of
the document's format and then the format changes mid-field. In my base
documents, the name is repeated correctly in Arial 10pt (by design) in the
header, and it comes out correct, but in the text of the contract the name
(which is supposed to be the style of the body text) is mixed up.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

In addition to Cindy's advice, after adding the charformat switch, you can
force the formatting that you want by applying it to the M of MERGEFIELD.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Mike Trout]

Thanks, Cindy.

That appears to have worked. Now to go change 300-some-odd contracts &
forms... :-\

Mike.

 

[Mike Trout]

Thanks for the tip, Doug. Good to know should I need to do that.

Mike.

 

[Alan Zych]

It appears that this problem has already been solved but I though I'd add another method.

I had the very same problem as Mike described. I noticed that the field that had the changing text had "Picture Box" selected in the Style drop down while all of my other merge fields had "Normal." As soon as I changed the style to Normal from Picture Box the problem was resolved.