Mail Merge on Word Question

[Barbara4003]

I've been thinking about this problem all day on and off and just can't figure it out.

I'm doing a mail merge letter in Word. The letter has been pre-printed, and I need to merge in the name, company, address etc. and then a Dear Mr xxxxxx.

My problem is, because not all the addresses are 8 lines long, the Dear Mr xxxxx is moving up and down the letter.

When all the cells in the spreadsheet have been used, eg 8 line address, the Dear Mr xxxxxx is in exactly the right place, but as soon as there's an address with, say, only 6 or 7 lines of address, the Dear Mr xxxxxx obviously moves up the paper and is too far away from the body of the letter.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can get the Dear Mr xxxxxxxx to always print in the same place regardless of the amount of lines in the address?

[brooklynlou]

Barbara,

Depending on what version of Word you are using, I believe there is a setting that tells word that if the cell is empty to either print data as blank line or to skip. You need to tell it to print the merge field regardless of whether its blank or not.

The other thing you can do is create a text box and set hard set the size and put the merge fields in the text box that way it will not expand or contract depending on the amount of data it finds.

[Barbara4003]

Originally Posted by brooklynlou

Barbara,

Depending on what version of Word you are using, I believe there is a setting that tells word that if the cell is empty to either print data as blank line or to skip. You need to tell it to print the merge field regardless of whether its blank or not.

The other thing you can do is create a text box and set hard set the size and put the merge fields in the text box that way it will not expand or contract depending on the amount of data it finds.

I know in MS Works I get the option to print blank lines, but I don't seem to get that option in my version of Word.

I thought about the text box and tried that, but it still moves.

What you do mean about set hard the size? I guessed there must be a way to stop the text box moving around, but can't figure out how to do it.

Thanks for your help, by the way

[Palestinian]

May be too late but …..
As brooklynlou suggests use the text box
• Click on text box
• Select format text box
• Select text box tab
• Untick Resize auto text to fit text box
• Make sure that your text box is big enough for the longest address as otherwise you’ll find the end of the address being ‘lost’

It may depend though on what version of Word you have

[Scroatey]

[Barbara4003]

Originally Posted by Palestinian

May be too late but …..
As brooklynlou suggests use the text box
• Click on text box
• Select format text box
• Select text box tab
• Untick Resize auto text to fit text box
• Make sure that your text box is big enough for the longest address as otherwise you’ll find the end of the address being ‘lost’

It may depend though on what version of Word you have

Thanks.

I did use a text box in the end, and I worked out how to 'lock' the text box to stop it moving about.

1,290 personalised letters all fitting perfectly in their window envelopes.

Mission accomplished