Important Notice

The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

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PRINT MERGE TROUBLESHOOTING
 
Overview: <File Print Merge command>
 
The following are the most common problems
associated with the print merge process:
 
■ The name in the Data instruction in the main
  document is not the name of a data document
  containing all the field names used in the
  main document.
 
■ A data record in the data document contains
  more fields than the <header record>. The common
  source of this problem is an extra comma, tab,
  or semicolon. Remember that if a field entry
  contains a comma, the entire field must be
  enclosed in quotation marks.
 
■ A data record in the data document contains
  fewer fields than the header record. Remember
  that if a field does not contain information,
  a comma or tab character is used as a
  placeholder.
 
■ The data document contains a blank line (an
  extra paragraph mark) after a record.
 
■ A field name contains a space or other
  disallowed character.
 
■ A field name in the main document does not
  match a field name in the data document. Check
  the spelling of the field names in the main
  document and make sure they are exactly the same
  as those in the data document.
 
■ Chevrons (« ») are not entered correctly.
  For « press Ctrl+[.
  For » press Ctrl+].
 
More Help: <Merging files>
           <Demo: Creating Form Letters>
 
Using Manual: Ch. 16, "Form Letters, Mailing
              Labels, and Other Merge Documents"