Closing Up Empty Fields In Mail Merge

[nickr1]

I am trying to merge address data into a letter. I can not get Appleworks to close up the empty fields. So there are gaps in the address where the fields are empty in the database.

I have clicked on slide objects up in the edit layout field. It doesn't work.

I had the same problem in Excel and Word which is why I switched to Appleworks.

Please can someone throw light on the subject. Apologies in advance if this subject has been covered before.

[Guest]

I am trying to merge address data into a letter. I can not get Appleworks to close up the empty fields. So there are gaps in the address where the fields are empty in the database.

I have clicked on slide objects up in the edit layout field. It doesn't work.

I had the same problem in Excel and Word which is why I switched to Appleworks.

Please can someone throw light on the subject. Apologies in advance if this subject has been covered before.

According to Appleworks Help:

"Closing up" blank space in fields for printing

You can adjust the fields on your layout to eliminate unused space within fields when you print. You don't see the effects on screen, but AppleWorks eliminates the extra space when you print.

To close up spaces in fields for printing:
1 Choose Edit Layouts from the Layout menu or from the layout pop-up menu on the left side of the document window (except in Browse mode).
2 Select the layout you want to change.
3 Click Modify.
4 Select "Slide objects left," "Slide objects up," or both.
You don't see the effects of these options, even in Page View.

Don't know if you've tried actually PRINTING a sample page, but do note the last paragraph: the display won't show the closing up except in Page View.

HTH

[Barry]

I am trying to merge address data into a letter. I can not get Appleworks to close up the empty fields. So there are gaps in the address where the fields are empty in the database.

I have clicked on slide objects up in the edit layout field. It doesn't work.

I had the same problem in Excel and Word which is why I switched to Appleworks.

Please can someone throw light on the subject. Apologies in advance if this subject has been covered before.

Slide objects up and Slide objects up applies only to printing from a database layout (and there are some difficulties in getting them to work even there).

They have no effect in a word processor document into which information from a database is merged.

Merge operates in AppleWorks (and I suspect in Word as well) by placing a marker into a WP document that is linked to a field in a particular database. For any particular record in the DB, if there is text (or a number) in the field named in the marker, that text is inserted into the WP document at the point held by the marker. If the field is empty, nothing is palced into the WP document, but nothing is removed either.

The paragraph break (return character) that creates a new line in the address is a character in the WP document, not in the DB field containing the information (if any) that would go on that line. The WP document creates the line with no regard for whether there is data to place on that line.

One possible workaround would be to use line breaks (shift-return) rather than paragraph breaks (return) to separate the lines in your address block. The gaps would still appear, but if you chose the 'Save all merged docs as one document' option (not the exact wording), you could then do a simple Find/Change to Find all the double line breaks (\n\n) and Change them to single line breaks (\n). Click Change all, and OK the warning and the dialogue that follow. If there are possible cases where two sequential address lines are empty, you would need to repeat this Find/Change (until the dialogue reporting the results reported 0 changes).

Cautions: This procedure will work if you have not used any double line breaks anywhere else in the document. It does not discriminate between double line breaks in the address block and those at other locations. It does discriminate between double line breaks and double paragraph breaks (return-return), which makes it a safe procedure for general use.

Regards,
Barry