KB189026 - WD98: How to Specify Multiple Conditions with a Nested IF Field

Article ID: 189026

Article Last Modified on 10/4/2002

Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q189026

SUMMARY

In a mail merge main document, you can use an IF (IF...THEN...ELSE) conditional statement to check whether one condition or multiple conditions are met.

This article provides a method of nesting COMPARE statements in an IF field to test whether the desired conditions are met.

For additional information about evaluating MERGEFIELDS without using the COMPARE field, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

189018 WD98: How to Use Nested IF Fields in a Print Merge Document

189016 WD98: Err Msg: "Fields Are Nested Too Deeply" in Mail Merge

MORE INFORMATION

You can specify multiple conditions by nesting a COMPARE field inside an IF field.

NOTE: To type field brackets ( { } ) in a Word document, press COMMAND+F9. To turn field codes on or off, press OPTION+F9.

Testing Whether Multiple Conditions Are Met

To test whether multiple fields meet certain conditions, you can use an AND conditional statement in your mail merge main document similar to the following:

{ IF { = AND ( { COMPARE { MERGEFIELD Field_1 } = "Value" }, { COMPARE { MERGEFIELD Field_2 } = "Value" } ) } = 1 "True Instructions" "False Instructions" }

The result of these nested COMPARE statements would be the "True Instructions" when both Field_1 and Field_2 are equal to "Value"; otherwise, the "False Instructions" would be given as the result.

NOTES:

When all of the conditions of the AND statement are met, the value returned by the statement would be equal to 1 (this would result in the True Instructions being returned).
When all of the conditions of the AND statement are not met, the value returned by the statement would be equal to 0 (this would result in the False Instructions being returned).

Testing Whether One Condition Is Met

To test whether one of the fields meets a particular condition, you can use an OR conditional statement in your mail merge main document similar to the following:

{ IF { = OR ( { COMPARE { MERGEFIELD Field_1 } >= "Value" }, { COMPARE { MERGEFIELD Field_2 } >= "Value" } ) } = 1 "True Instructions" "False Instructions" }

The result of these nested COMPARE statements would be the "True Instructions" when either Field_1 or Field_2 is equal to "Value"; otherwise, the "False Instructions" would be given as the result.

NOTES:

When any of the conditions of the OR statement is met, the value returned by the statement would be equal to 1 (this would result in the True Instructions being returned).
When all of the conditions of the OR statement are not met, the value returned by the statement would be equal to 0 (this would result in the False Instructions being returned).

For more information about conditional statements, click the Office Assistant, type advanced mail merge, click Search, and then click Customize documents created with mail merge to view the topic.

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the standard toolbar. If Microsoft Help is not installed on your computer, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

179216 OFF98: How to Use the Microsoft Office Installer Program

Additional query words: mailmerge

Keywords: kbhowto kbmerge kbfield KB189026