Editing Merged Fields in Word 2010 or 2013

[hlewton]

In doing a mail merge not all of the merge fields are visible as hopefully you can see from the attachment. Below the last line that is visible and above the "Next Record" line there is, in the example attached, one more line of merged fields. It has to be edited after it is inserted into the document. I have found 2 ways to look at and edit that line but both of them seem a bit out of the ordinary. What I have found is I either highlight the entire document and change the font to a much smaller one so I can see that last line of the label or I move the grid line down to a point where all the merge fields are displayed. In either case I have to remember to return the label to its original size and/or font for it to print out correctly. I have tried scrolling down which moves the entire document or moving the cursor down using the arrows which only jumps the cursor to the label below and does not show the hidden line.

Is there a better way to edit the merged field line when it is not visible or are the ways I have found the only ways to do it?

Thanks.

Merge.jpg

[Rudi]

Hi,

You can only fit so much on a label. If the fields are outside the label borders, unless you change the font size or adjust line spacing or switch to a bigger label size, those hidden lines will not print, or alternatively extend over into the label below. I can recommend placing additional fields in the same row like you did with Title, Name and Last Name. Also, place your cursor in front of Title and backspace so as to take advantage of the extra row at the top. If you still cannot fit it all in, then you will need to go to a bigger label. There is only that much space to work with...unless you can conjure up a miracle.

[hlewton]

Hi,

You can only fit so much on a label. If the fields are outside the label borders, unless you change the font size or adjust line spacing or switch to a bigger label size, those hidden lines will not print, or alternatively extend over into the label below. I can recommend placing additional fields in the same row like you did with Title, Name and Last Name. Also, place your cursor in front of Title and backspace so as to take advantage of the extra row at the top. If you still cannot fit it all in, then you will need to go to a bigger label. There is only that much space to work with...unless you can conjure up a miracle.

Thank you Rudi and believe me I am not trying to be argumentative but my labels do print out perfectly with all the information on them. The attachment you saw above has a font of Times New Roman size 12 and all the information does print out. I intentionally put the space at the top of the label to assure alignment of all the information on the label if the printer doesn't do it exactly as it should. I used to put the postal code there but often times the top half of it would bet cut off. The label in the attachment is an Avery 5160 and as you see it has 3 across and what you can't see is it has 10 down so I get 30 per sheet. On every label there are 3 lines for the addresses and I do have a couple that require 4 lines but even they do fit and print out on the labels. I was just hoping for a more convenient way to edit the last line or two but I really don't have any problem with them printing out.

I don't mean to belabor the point but if I enter the merge fields one at a time I can edit them as I go even though I can't see the last line to make sure it is punctuated is as needed - "comma" between city and state, etc. I may guess at this and later have to be able to see it to make any corrections I may have made. But since no matter how I insert the data unless I use one of the two methods I mentioned in the OP to edit them I can't see the last line. So what I have been doing is inserting all the necessary fields at one time and then making my font or line adjustments, editing the spacing between fields, line placement, and punctuation, then resetting the labels to the Times New Roman 12 font, propagating the rest of the labels, and then printing. After reading your response I'm not at all certain why it works for me but it does.

[Rudi]

Hi,

I can simulate what you mention in your OP, but have not printed the merge to see if my sample prints all the fields in labels. The only way to edit these hidden fields (that I can suggest) is to size the font smaller and make the necessary changes. Fortunately it is not to much effort as you only need to do it on the first label. Once you have ensured all is good, size up the text to the necessary point size and then hit the Update Labels button to copy the changes to all the others.

I checked the resulting merge in print preview...and the hidden field still did not show. Not sure what would happen if I printed it?!
As for knowing what will come out of the printer...that is unfortunately trial and error. Fortunately you say it is all printing.

If all else fails thought, your only solution would be smaller text or larger label.

1.jpg

[macropod]

What I occasionally do is to copy the entire cell and past its contents somewhere outside the table (even into a new temporary document sometimes). I then make my edits and paste the updated content back into the table.

[hlewton]

Hi,

I can simulate what you mention in your OP, but have not printed the merge to see if my sample prints all the fields in labels. The only way to edit these hidden fields (that I can suggest) is to size the font smaller and make the necessary changes. Fortunately it is not to much effort as you only need to do it on the first label. Once you have ensured all is good, size up the text to the necessary point size and then hit the Update Labels button to copy the changes to all the others.

I checked the resulting merge in print preview...and the hidden field still did not show. Not sure what would happen if I printed it?!
As for knowing what will come out of the printer...that is unfortunately trial and error. Fortunately you say it is all printing.

If all else fails thought, your only solution would be smaller text or larger label.

1.jpg

Well you really got me to thinking so what I did was, as you did, try a Print Preview and again, as you say, it did not show the hidden fields. I then printed the mail merge document itself, not the final document with all the addresses, and it did not print out the hidden line either. So to be sure I knew what I am talking about I ran the Finish Merge choosing "Edit Individual Documents" and merge "All" to a new document and it does, in fact, print out the labels as I want them with all the hidden merge fields filled in with the correct information from the data source which happens to be an Access query, if that makes any difference. So I guess I'll just keep on doing it the way I have been since it doesn't seem like there is a better way.

Thanks Rudi

[hlewton]

What I occasionally do is to copy the entire cell and past its contents somewhere outside the table (even into a new temporary document sometimes). I then make my edits and paste the updated content back into the table.

Thanks for the reply.

This sounds simple enough but it still comes back to not being able to highlight the entire cell unless I change the font or expand the height of the label enough to copy even the hidden line or lines as it sometimes is. Once I do either of those steps it is an easy task to do the editing I need done.

It does seem awful strange that the label once merged prints out fine but the merge fields cannot be edited without taking further measures because the final lines of the label can't be accessed as you'd normally expect to be able to do.

[macropod]

Selecting an entire cell doesn't require all that circumlocution! For example, if all your lines are separated by manual line breaks, simply triple-clicking anywhere in the cell will select the entire range. For any other cell, you could position the insertion point at the start of the second cell, then press the LeftArrow to move the selection. Then use Ctrl-Shift-UpArrow to extend the selection until you see the entire cell highlighted.

[hlewton]

Selecting an entire cell doesn't require all that circumlocution! For example, if all your lines are separated by manual line breaks, simply triple-clicking anywhere in the cell will select the entire range. For any other cell, you could position the insertion point at the start of the second cell, then press the LeftArrow to move the selection. Then use Ctrl-Shift-UpArrow to extend the selection until you see the entire cell highlighted.

Not sure why but the triple click doesn't work for me it only highlighted the line it was executed in. However the Ctrl Shift Down Arrow did the trick.

Thanks.