Common Mail Merge Problems

It’s much easier to carry out mail merging in Microsoft Publisher, however, it’s possible for you to do a good mail merge in Microsoft Word. Given that Microsoft Word looks at all of the pages in its entirety compared to Microsoft Publisher, which examines a single instance of your project, some issues can arise in Microsoft Word when mail merging.

Here are some of the most common issues and how to fix them:

Mail Merged Barcode Doesn’t Work

Microsoft Word can occasionally add in additional spaces in places you don’t want them. If your barcodes aren’t functioning properly, look for excess spaces around the merged field. Ensure any specific leading and trailing characters are directly next to the merged field and don’t include any spaces between them and the merged field.

The Same Record Is Repeated on Each Page

Having numerous versions of the very same merge field on the same page could potentially cause the first record to be repeated in all occurrences of the merge field on that page. Use a Next Record rule beside each instance of the merge field that you want Word to move to the next record . This will push Word to go to the subsequent record.

Started The Mail Merge But Don’t Know What To Do Next

Occasionally the Mail Merge Wizard might not launch automatically. If you go to Start a Mail Merge and take a look at the drop down you get when you click it, “Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard…” will be the last option. Clicking that will bring up the Mail Merge Wizard to help walk you through creating your mail merge.