Type

MERGEFIELD "maiden"

then select it and press Ctrl + F9. You should now see

{ MERGEFIELD "maiden" }

Do this again so that you have

{ MERGEFIELD "maiden" }{ MERGEFIELD "maiden" }

Now add the IF, the "" " etc. so that you have

IF { MERGEFIELD "maiden" } "" "{ MERGEFIELD "maiden" } " ""

Don't forget the space after the second { MERGEFIELD "maiden" } before the
closing quote

Now select all of that and press Ctrl + F9 which should give you

{ IF { MERGEFIELD "maiden" } "" "{ MERGEFIELD "maiden" } " "" }

Now press Alt+F9 to toggle off the field codes and then execute your merge.

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Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid
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Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - Word MVP
"S Cocke" wrote in message
...
Thanks. This may sound dense, but can you give me a step by step?

In the word doc, I have firstname maiden last

So, do I insert the IF...THEN function after I insert maiden or
before?


Also, in the IF...THEN dialog box, where do I put the string that you gave
me? Do I enter If maiden is blank and then enter the string in the
"insert this text" box?

THANKS,
Shannon

"Doug Robbins" wrote:

Use and If...Then...Else field that checks to see if the maiden field is
blank and if it is not, enters the maiden followed by a space, otherwise,
it
inserts nothing.

{ IF { MERGEFIELD "maiden" } "" "{ MERGEFIELD "maiden" } " "" }

--
Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a
paid
consulting basis.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - Word MVP
"S Cocke" S wrote in message
...
I'm trying to merge a doc that has names, some with maiden names and
some
without. I want the merge to go first(space)maiden(space)last UNLESS
there
is no maiden name, in which case I only need ONE space.

Any ideas?