IF... THEN... ELSE... rule to insert a Mailmerge Field

[SoonerLater]

I need to create a mailmerge with this logic.



IF [mergefield OKtoPublish = "True"]
THEN insert [mergefield PhoneNumber]
ELSE insert ""

The If... Then... Else rule system lets you insert TEXT, not mergefields. However, it is a mergefield that I need to insert.

This thread in the UK Access Programmers Forum states:

I'm using Word2003, embedded in the fundraising database Raiser's Edge (I know, I know - ::shudders:.

I am trying to formulate a field (I tried with a Word If...then...else field but I couldn't get it to work) that would conditionally insert a mail merge field (email address) if one of the other address fields was blank.

The problem is that the Word field if...then...else seems to only support plain text insertions. I tried editing the 'then' portion of the field after insertion with { MERGEFIELD email_address } in various forms, but I couldn't get it to work.

Found your post while having similar issues. I found a workaround that works great for me. Just run the "If...Then...Else" wizard and put everything you want in it except the { MERGEFIELD email_address } part (use placeholder text in the "Insert this text" box to make it easy to find )

Then show the sourcecode in the word document (Alt+F9)

Then insert the { MERGEFIELD email_address } field using the typical method of clicking on "Insert Field" on the ribbon.

I couldn't find a difference between my manual coding and the coding MSWord made, but theirs worked ?!?!?!?! So give it a try and see if it helps.

After a lot of Googling, this above quotes were all I could find.

I've tried (I think) to implement the suggested solution, but I'll be darned if I can make it work.

Any suggestions?

[DougMVP]

You most certainly can use an If...then...Else field to insert the contents of a MergeField

For your example, insert the following mergefields and text

«OKtoPublish» = True «PhoneNumber» ""

then, select the above mergefields and text and press CTRL+F9 which will enclose it in a pair of field delimiters

{ «OKtoPublish» = True «PhoneNumber» "" }

Then insert the word IF as shown below

{ IF «OKtoPublish» = True «PhoneNumber» "" }

Then press ALT+F9 twice to toggle of the display of the field codes in the document.

Note: You MUST use CTRL+F9 to insert the field delimiters. It will NOT work if you insert the directly by the use of the { and } keys.

[macropod]

Originally Posted by SoonerLater

The If... Then... Else rule system lets you insert TEXT, not mergefields. However, it is a mergefield that I need to insert.
...
Any suggestions?

You might want to check out the 'Mailmerge Tips & Tricks' thread at the top of this forum to see how wrong you are about that!!!

For your scenario, all you need is a field coded as:
{IF«OKtoPublish»= True «PhoneNumber»}

Note: The field brace pairs (i.e. '{ }') for the above example are 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.

[SoonerLater]

Thank you DougMVP and macropod for your help. Your suggestions worked brilliantly - and saved the day.