Thanks, Graham...I appreciate it. I can't manually insert a space, or use
the \b switch. Here's why. Imagine this set up.

My columns in excel contain paragraphs broken into 255 character chunks. In
the word doc, I have multiple merge fields that essentially rebuild the
paragraphs, 255 characters at a time. Since I have multiple records, some of
the fields begin with a space and some don't. For those that do begin with a
space, Mail Merge doesn't insert the space at the beginning.

Example one trouble record:
In excel
Field_One ends with - "...while the"
Field_Two begins with - " focus of..." (notice the space before focus).

In word:
My merge fields are stacked in word like this...with no space in between.
{ MERGEFIELD Field_One }{ MERGEFIELD Field_Two }

The merged result looks like this:
"...while thefocus of..." (notice no space between the and focus)

Do you have any ideas how to fix this? I can't add the space manually as it
would have this effect on other records (eg.."fo cus").

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Use a \b switch on the field to place the space (though why can't you simply
insert the space manually or conditionally between the fields?)

eg { MERGEFIELD First_Name }{ MERGEFIELD Last_Name \b " " }
will put a space between the fields.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Joshua wrote:
I'm performing a Mail Merge that combines text stored in Excel into a
Word doc. Each field contains 255 characters (max for mail merge)
and once in Word, the fields are combined to create paragraphs.

Here's the problem. Some fields begin the a space. Mail Merge removes
this space. By removing the space, it causes the last word of the
previous field to combine with the first word of the field with the
space.

How do I get Mail Merge to recognize and include a space at the
beginning of the field?