Bullet Points and Mail Merge List

Question

Hi Everyone,

Looking for some help creating a bulleted list using mail merge with correct formatting. I have a list that can contain data. If the data is not empty I would like to have place bullet points in front using mail merge. Previously I have being doing the automatic bullet points as the lists always contained data. Now I have a list that may or may not contain data, however if I use the same format it will but a single bullet point even if there is no data. Is there a way to only start using the bullets points if there is data?

● { MERGEFIELD LIST }

Things I've tried { MERGEFIELD LIST \b • } This would only place a bullet on the first item on list
● { MERGEFIELD LIST } this would make the bullet point even if no data

Thank you!

Answer 1

You would use an IF field to test the MERGEFIELD's content, coded along the lines of:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.

{IF{MERGEFIELD LIST}<> "" "{MERGEFIELD LIST}¶
"}Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.

or:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.

{IF«LIST»<> "" "«LIST»¶
"}Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.

where the ¶ represents a paragraph break with the required bullet format applied to it.

Note that there are no paragraph breaks between the field and the start of the next paragraph.

Note: The field brace pairs (i.e. '{ }') for the above examples are all created in the document itself, via Ctrl-F9 (Cmd-F9 on a Mac or, if you’re using a laptop, you might need to use Ctrl-Fn-F9); you can't simply type them or copy & paste them from this message. Nor is it practical to add them via any of the standard Word dialogues. Likewise, the chevrons (i.e. '« »') are part of the actual mergefields - which you can insert from the 'Insert Merge Field' dropdown (i.e. you can't type or copy & paste them from this message, either). The spaces represented in the field constructions are all required.

Answer 2

@MiBA94

As PaulEdstein-5060 said, you could try to use the IF field to filter the display. I had a test on my machine with Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise installed.
I chose Labels mail merge as a demonstration, you may refer to the following steps.

• Press Alt + F9 and go to Mailings>Rules>select If…Then…Else to insert {IF{MERGEFIELD LIST}=“” “” “”}
• Insert {MERGEFIELD LIST} in the last quotation mark by clicking Insert Merge Field>List.
• And then insert a paragraph break with the desired bullet format applied.
• Click Update Labels and Preview Results, and then Press Alt + F9 to preview results.

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