Mail Merge Tool: "If" Conditional Statements

Use the mail merge If code to test the data being merged, and insert appropriate wording into the document. For example, you may want to print specific paragraphs based on the patient’s age, or include a second address line on envelopes only when appropriate.

Use This Feature

Create or Edit a Document - Open your Letter Library to add merge tools to a new or existing document. See "Letter Library" for details.
Position Your Cursor - Place your cursor in the document where you want the information to print.
Open "Field" Menu - Open the Field option from the Insert menu bar of your Word window.

Word 2002/2003 - Click the Insert menu and select Field. (No illustration available.)

Word 2007 or greater - Click the Insert ribbon bar, and select Quick Parts. Then choose the Field option.
Initiate IF Code - Select Mail Merge in the Category box, and choose the IF field name option. Click Ok to insert an empty merge code command into your document. If you do not see the merge code, or if you see an error, press Alt+F9 to toggle the merge code display.

Initiate IF code.

Example empty merge code: {IF \*MERGEFORMAT}
Remove Extraneous Code - Remove the text \*MERGEFORMAT from the code. Example: {IF}
Insert Variable - Position your cursor at the space after the IF, but inside the braces, and insert the variable you want to test. (See "Mail Merge Variables" for details.)

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Age_Years} }

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Full_Name} }
Insert Operator - Add a mathematical operator after the variable. Be sure to have a space both before and after the operator.

Equal to ( = ) - This operator includes records that exactly match the field value.

Not equal to ( <> ) - This operator excludes records that match the field value.

Greater than (> ) - This operator includes records whose value is more than, but not the same as, the field value.

Greater than or equal to ( >= ) This operator includes records whose value is either more than or the same as the field value.

Less than ( < ) - This operator includes records whose value is less than, but not the same as, the field value.

Less than or equal to ( <= ) - This operator includes records whose value is either less than or the same as the field value.

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Age_Years} >= }

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Full_Name} = }
Insert Value to Compare - Add the value or variable to which you want to compare the first variable. Values you type (such as a number or specific text) should be enclosed in quotation marks. Values you insert as variables should not include quotation marks. Again, be sure to include leading and following spaces between each portion of the code.

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Age_Years} >= "18" }

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Full_Name} = {MERGEFIELD Resparty_Full_Name} }
Add Text - Enter the text and variables to print if the condition is met, enclosed in quotation marks, leaving a space at the end.

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Age_Years} >= "18" "We recommend that our adult patients" }

{IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Full_Name} = {MERGEFIELD Resparty_Full_Name} "We look forward to seeing you." } }
Add Alternate Text - Enter the text and variables to print if the condition is not met, enclosed in quotation marks. If you do not want anything printed when the condition is false, skip this step.

Example of no alternate text: {IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Age_Years} >= "18" "We recommend that our adult patients" }

Example of alternate text: {IF {MERGEFIELD Patient_Full_Name} = {MERGEFIELD Resparty_Full_Name} "We look forward to seeing you." "We look forward to seeing you and {MERGEFIELD Patient_Nick_Name." }
Proofread - Be sure to look over your conditional statements carefully to check for spelling errors, and to be sure all the quotes and braces are correctly placed, and come in pairs.
Save & Exit - Click the X in the upper right corner of the document window. As you exit, you have the opportunity to save the document.

More Information

Toggle Merge Code Display - When creating and editing word processing documents with mail merge codes (such as variables and conditional statements), it is helpful and sometimes necessary to be able to see the codes. During regular daily use, however, you may wish to have them off. While different versions of Word have different ways of accessing this setting, an easy way to toggle the merge code display, regardless of your version of Word, is to press Alt+F9 on your keyboard.

Using Quotes Inside Merge Codes - If you want quotation marks within the text you want printed, you cannot simply type them. You must insert them as Quote field codes. Consult your Word documentation or Ortho2for further assistance.

Example IF statements - You can control your mail merge document output with conditional statements. These statements may be more or less elaborate as needed. Click for examples of commonly used IF statements.

Check for 2nd Address Line - Use conditional statements to check for an address second line, and ensure that there will no be a blank line in the letter or on the envelope when there is no second line. The example below tests to see if the variable is “not equal to nothing,” in other words that it is not blank. This concept can be applied in other conditional statements.

Nested Conditions - You can nest conditional statements within other conditional statements.

Condition Stringing - If you are certain that no records will have a blank field for your variable, or if you desire the document to print nothing when it is blank, you can simply string conditional statements together rather than nesting them to make the form letter a little simpler to read.