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Thread ID: 86975	2008-02-03 09:18:00	Mail Merge Aficionados?	Perry (4966)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
637079	2008-02-03 09:18:00	Mailmerge is a tricky beast, not at all easy, it seems . The data source seems to be the easy matter . The mail merge document is the killer . Open Office Writer seems very restricted: letters, labels & envelopes . Word at least offers a catalogue option (which is what I want) but the conditional instructions are, aahhhhh, challenging . It seems to be able to test records – maybe, but unable to test fields within records . The test-record option only (seems to) allow an "equal to" test – not "contains . " I can't make it work, which has me wondering if the "equal to" test will return a false, if there are other characters in the field, including spaces . (I doubt that, though) In 'long-hand,' here's a sample of what I'm trying to achieve . Angle bracketed words signify <fieldname> IF <keyword> contains (the word) 'redundant' [true response] skip to next record (and repeat that test [for every record!]) Should that above conditional test return a [false response] then, extract the data from the record, thus: IF <name1> contains data, insert that data in bold, followed by a tab, ELSE IF <name1> contains no data, skip to next field . IF <name2> contains data, insert that data, followed by a comma and a space, ELSE IF <name2> contains no data, skip to next field . . . . . . . . . . If <home_tel> contains data, insert the text string "Home Tel:" in bold, then the field data, followed by a comma and a space, ELSE IF <home_tel> contains no data, skip to next field . On and on and on . . . . till the end-of-record, [where two carriage returns are inserted] then move to the next record until end of file . (Ye olde WHILE WEND instruction?) Any mail merge pros got suggestions? Perry	Perry (4966)
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