We currently make use of mail merges to generate statements and have recently had to create a specialised statement that only includes items that start with "Fee:"



The problem we are experiencing is that the mail merges can be prevented from pulling through data when the "Fee:" is not detected but the problem is we then sit with a number of blank rows that need to be removed.

Is there some way to skip records where the description does not start with "Fee:"?

You can use either the mailmerge filters or a SKIPIF field for that.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I'm not sure this is going to work because, as I understand it, the SKIPIF statement will move to the next record. It's difficult to explain but our document is doing something like this:

Record
Table Start
Transaction 1
Transaction 2
Transaction 3
Table End

I'm basically trying to skip a transaction and not skip the record entirely. So as a real world example:

Mr John Doe
Table Start
Bill: Fix Printer £50
Fee: Monthly management fee. £100
Fee: Admin Fee £25
Table End

What I'm trying to achieve is to only show the items that start with "Fee:" so I can use these items to create an invoice that just lists fees.

At this point in time I am only able to get blank rows for the items not starting with "Fee:", not able to remove the row all together.

Yes, SKIPIF skips entire records.

Perhaps you could clarify: Do your data actually contain the word 'Fee' (e.g. actually outputting all of 'Fee: Monthly management fee. £100'), or is 'Fee' some text in the mailmerge main document itself?

Also, what kind of datasource are you using?

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

When the data is inputted into the MS access DB we use, we add the text "Fee:" in front of the fee description. So something like "Fee:*" would isolate the transaction.

One thing that concerns me is your reference to:
Record
Table Start
...
Table End
These are not Word fields, which suggests you're using some kind of 3rd-party addin. In that case, your options may be severely limited. Assuming your software allows it, for each transaction you could use a set of IF tests like:
{IF«Transaction1»<> "Fee*" «Transaction1»¶
"}{IF«Transaction2»<> "Fee*" «Transaction2»¶
"}{IF«Transaction3»<> "Fee*" «Transaction3»¶
"}

Note: The field brace pairs (i.e. '{ }') for the above example are all created in the document itself, via Ctrl-F9 (Cmd-F9 on a Mac); you can't simply type them or copy & paste them from this message. Nor is it practicable to add them via any of the standard Word dialogues. Likewise, you can't type or copy & paste the chevrons (i.e. '« »') - they're part of the actual mergefields, which you can insert from the mailmerge toolbar. The spaces represented in the field construction are all required. Instead of the ↵ and ¶, you should use real line/paragraph breaks.

The alternative is to not use your 3rd-party addin and instead use one of the Many-to-One Mail Merge add-ins, from:
Graham Mayor at http://www.gmayor.com/ManyToOne.htm; or
Doug Robbins at http://bit.ly/1hduSCB
These both work with Word's own mergefields. In addition to a 'Many to One' merge, the latter handles:
• Merge with Charts
• Duplex Merge
• Merge with FormFields
• Merge with Attachments
• Merge to Individual Documents
• Merge, Print and Staple

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Yes think this may be the case as we do use a third party application with it's own set of merge fields which are loaded when the document is launched into Word.

Hmm back to the drawing board I think.

thank you for your help.