Microsoft KB Archive/196954

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WD97: Cannot Merge a Barcode Field Based on a Condition

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Q196954

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

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SYMPTOMS
A BARCODE field nested in an IF field produces no merge result even when the condition is true.

CAUSE
BARCODE fields are a special type of Word field called a "display" field. Display fields produce their own results and, unlike other Word fields, the result of a display field cannot exist independently of the field itself (display fields can't be unlinked). Consequently, the result of a display field cannot be fetched by the IF field for its result.

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1
Use the Record Selection feature to merge only those records that have addresses in the U.S. After all these records have been merged, remove the BARCODE field and merge those records that are not in the U.S.

Method 2
Sort the data file by the country field so that all records for the U.S. are together. Using the mail merge helper, merge only the range of records that includes the country U.S. After all U.S. records have been merged, remove the BARCODE field and merge the range of records that includes countries other than the U.S.

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words: usa bar code

Keywords : kbdta kbfield word97 kbmerge

Issue type : kbbug

Technology : kbWordSearch kbWord97 kbWord97Search kbZNotKeyword2