Share via

Automatically replace text from a merge field

Anonymous
2020-11-17T19:03:55+00:00

I'm trying to write different letters with information from one excel sheet. I tried to put the name of the letter as a merge field, then doing a replace text option for the name of each letter so it would automatically fill in the body of the letter from the merge field but that doesn't work. I have to go in and hit enter on each individual letter for the replace text to work. Is there another way to do this? I imagine writing a macro for this would work about the same way.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

3 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-11-18T12:14:09+00:00

    I did it this way and it worked! Thanks so much!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-18T01:11:51+00:00

    I actually did try the IF field under the Rules tab. Is that what you’re referring to? It didn’t work and my whole document crashed but I’m wondering if that’s because I was in compatability mode (my doc was an older version) I’m going to try again building the doc from scratch in the new version. 

    I was finishing the merge the other way and I still had to hit return on each letter for the replace to populate.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Paul Edstein 82,861 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2020-11-17T22:54:56+00:00

    All you need for this to work is an IF field in the mailmerge main document to test the letter type. With few constraints, all of the content unique to that letter type (including tables, pictures, etc.) can be embedded in the if field.

    From your problem description, I have to wonder whether you're actually completing the merge instead of just previewing it.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments