Suppress Blank Lines in a mail merge

Anonymous
2010-09-17T14:37:31+00:00

Using Word 2007, I am creating a mail merge. Some addresses have one line, some have two (Suite number, etc.) I want to suppress the second address field only if it is blank, so there are no blank lines in the document after I perform the merge. In older versions of Word, I remember a check box for "suppress blank fields" but I can't seem to find that in 2007.

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2010-09-17T14:59:46+00:00

In general, blank lines are automatically suppressed, but only if they end in a paragraph break, not a line break. Consequently, the default is not a solution for me and perhaps not for you, either. So you have to use an IF field. Assuming your two address lines are the merge fields Address1 and Address2, you'd have something like this.

{ MERGEFIELD Address1 }<line break>

{ IF { MERGEFIELD Address2 } = "" "" "{MERGEFIELD ADDRESS2}<line break>" }

The way that will actually appear in your document is:

{ MERGEFIELD Address1 }

{ IF { MERGEFIELD Address2 } = "" "" "{MERGEFIELD ADDRESS2}

" }

By putting the line break inside the FalseText quotes, you ensure that thereis a line break only if the line contains text; otherwise, there will be no line.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-05-03T17:41:10+00:00

    HERE IS HOW YOU DO IT .... in 2010

    It's amazing some of you "masters of the program" missed this one...

    1. Right Click the code that represents the field that you want to collapse when blank
    2. Click "Edit Field"
    3. Clickl "Field Codes"

    4 Click "Options"

    1. Click "Field Specific Switches" tab

    6 Click " \F"

    1. Click OK then OK

    Proceed with the rest of the mail merge process....

    www.brightinsight.com

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-12-03T16:34:34+00:00

    The downside of using Address Block to solve this problem caused by Word 2007 is that addresses in UK  sometimes have 3 lines

    So my options are to have missing address details - not a good idea

    or to have have blank lines - which look silly

    I'd appreciate any advice on this problem

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-11-15T18:16:30+00:00

    Thank you again for your help.  I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "This field you then copy to each label"  When I click on "Address Block" a window pops up giving me a preview of the first record.  There are arrows both ways to preview the next (last) record.  What was it that you meant I was supposed to "copy"?

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-11-15T15:40:37+00:00

    Yes it works just as well. Create the labels in the usual way, selecting your data source. Then click in the first label and click "Address Block". This field you then copy to each label. When you "Preview Results" you will see your address data without the blank lines on each label.

    John

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