As we approach the final stage of our streamlined tax statement creation process, it's crucial to address potential pitfalls in standard Mail Merge and implement solutions for a flawless outcome.

Issues with Standard Mail Merge:

• Dropping Zeros on Currency Amount:

  • Challenge: Currency fields in Excel may display as $1050.00 but lose the trailing zero when inserted into Word through Mail Merge.

  • Solution: The workaround involves using Shift-F9 over the merge field and adding a parameter to maintain the desired formatting.

  • Example Parameter: Currency\#$,0.00

• Stopping at the Last Gift Line:

  • Challenge: Creating multiple lines for each donor based on the most frequent donor in Excel may result in excessive blank lines in the Word document.

  • Solution: Shift-F9, once again, comes to the rescue. By adding a parameter, you can prevent unnecessary blank lines in your letter.

  • Example Parameter: \b "" (break when the field is blank)