Microsoft KB Archive/197842

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SYMPTOMS
This article describes how to define a conditional MERGEFIELD for a result that includes quotation marks. Normally, a conditional {IF} field takes the following syntax:

{IF {MERGEFIELD name} = "John Doe" "true condition" "false condition"} Note that quotation marks are used to denote the parameters of the conditional statements and are not included in the printed result of the merge. If you want to include quotation marks in your result, you must include a backslash (\) before each quotation mark that you want to include. For example, if you want to print "Now is the time...," (with the quotation marks) in your document when the true condition is met, you must place a backslash before each quotation mark. The conditional statement should look similar to the following:

{IF {MERGEFIELD name} = "John Doe" "\"Now is the time...\"" "false  condition"}

MORE INFORMATION
The comma also has a special use inside the {IF} field. Therefore, use the backslash before a comma as well as before the quotation mark.

In addition, the backslash has a special use inside the {IF} field. Therefore, use a backslash before a backslash. In other words, use two backslashes if you want one to appear in the merged document.

For example to have the result "John said, "The file is in F:\My Documents"", the {IF} field would have a format similar to this:

{IF {MERGEFIELD name} = "John Doe" "John said, \"The file is in  F:\\My Documents\"" "false condition"}

For additional information about this issue, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q197840 TITLE    : WD97: Certain Characters Do Not Display in Field Result
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Last reviewed: January 7, 1999

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