WD: Mail Merge Does Not Merge Hidden Character Formatting
Article ID: 116475
Article Last Modified on 8/16/2005
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Word 6.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Word 6.0a
- Microsoft Word 6.0c
- Microsoft Word 6.0 for Macintosh
- Microsoft Word 6.01 for Macintosh
- Microsoft Word 6.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Word 95a
- Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh
This article was previously published under Q116475
SYMPTOMS
If a Microsoft Word mail merge data document contains hidden text
formatting, the text appears without the hidden format after Word performs
the merge. In Word 2.x for Windows and Word 5.x for the Macintosh, the
field that contains the hidden text is ignored.
CAUSE
This behavior is by design of Microsoft Word. The mail merge main document
controls the formatting of text during a merge.
WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use any of the following methods.
Method 1: Format the Merge Field in the Mail Merge Main Document as Hidden
Format the merge field in the mail merge main document as hidden. When the
merge is performed, the result of this field is hidden text.
Method 2: Remove the Word "mergefield" from the Merge Field
Remove the word "mergefield" from the merge field in the main document. To
do this, begin by displaying field codes (press ALT+F9). Delete the word
"mergefield" from within the field code. Ignore the "Error! Bookmark not
defined" message and perform the merge. The result after the merge is
hidden text.
Method 3: Replace the MERGEFIELD Field with a REF Field
Turn on field codes (by pressing ALT+F9), and replace the word "mergefield"
with the word "ref" (without the quotation marks) in the field code. The
merge will generate hidden text for this field.
Method 2 and method 3 do not permit you to suppress blank lines when a
field in the data file is empty. Method 1 automatically suppresses the
blank lines.
Additional query words: mail merge hidden format character font
Keywords: kbmerge kbprb KB116475