Forum Discussion
Mail Merge Questions... New to Mail Merge and on a Mac
Hello all,
I am new to Mail Merge and I have been handed a difficult task (for me anyways). Please be know that I am on a Mac and a lot of PC work arounds have not been working.
Is there a way to mail marge checkmarks (tick) into a work document from excel?
Also is there a way to remove blank merge field lines, such as a second address line (using excel and word)?
Example:
Name
Street address
Suite #/ Apt# (remove this one if blank)
City State Zip?
Thank you for any help you can think of
9 Replies
I figured out the Checkbox (ticks) and mail merging it!!! it was simpler then what I was thinking. mathetes helped when he suggested "text-based alternative." I used Wingdings font (Symbol) on BOTH documents (I had done it on the excel once but when I would merge it, it would not work correctly)..... This time I entered my merge field on the Word Doc and then change the font to Wingdings (it looked crazy). Then on the Excel I changed the font in the columns that I need check boxes to Wingdings and found that X was a checked box and O was a empty one.. and there they were when I re saved and previewed results..
!! Thank you all !!
You got that tricky multiple level conditional to work too?! That must feel great; I know it does when I finally get something like that to work, something that's been a real challenge.
First thing you know, Andrea, you're going to be answering questions here from other users!!
- I hope I can answer questions soon!
Let me commend Word's "Help" function to you. I know it's possible to do what you ask in your second question. I just did a quick search in the Help area, using "conditional mail merge" as my search term and came up with the following:
I don't know about the check marks (ticks) question... You might be able to save time and energy if you could come up with a text-based alternative. E.g., using a "Y" or "X" to indicate the same thing that you want the checked box to indicate.
Mail merge, though, as you might expect, can handle a lot of tricky things. This "conditional" or "if...then...else" is a fairly basic function. It no doubt will take a bit of fooling around. And it might be a matter, not of removing that Apt # field if blank, but rather of using it if filled. But either way, I know it can be made to work.
This works if you don't have any other fields that needs merging. There is a section in my document that I need to do this on.
As seen on the attached screen shot (high lighted section) I need to be able to remove the row if the <<M_2nd_part_Count>> is equal to or less than 0 but if it is not 0 I need it to stay and then enter the merge data in for <<M_2nd_part_Count>> @ <<M_2nd_part_Rate>>.
It won't except the merge fields in the if-then-else section of the rule..
Is there a way to do this?
A thought on that multiple level conditional. It's not as elegant a solution, but in effect you can handle it (if, say, there are only three fundamental conditions, maybe each of those with a simple IF...THEN.... of its own) by using MailMerge three times.
Use the filter in Word to select group A, and have a letter specifically with the conditions that apply only to A. Then the same with B; and C. Within each of those three letters, you could have a simpler IF...THEN..., which is far easier to set up.
Not as elegant or spiffy, but it would work.
mathetes
Thank you I didn't think to use "conditional" in my search ( I feel like I used every other word then that). I saw videos that showed how but they were all PC so I was not able to follow, but thank you so much I will try this and let you know!!
