Conditional Processing During a Mail Merge

Is it possible to compare two records. In the data source it will say:

Name Amount
Jane Smith $1,000
Jane Smith $ 500
Jane Smith $6,000
Bob Jones $2,000
Bob Jones $ 750

In may merge I want it to list all of Jane Smith's numbers. When it sees the name has changed I want it to do a new record with Bob's numbers. How would I write that?

I'm not sure how to do this for my data. I need to print address labels and one of my fields is "farm name" which is frequently blank. When blank I want to just skip to the next field. For example for someone with a farm name the label should be:

Name
Farm name
street
city, St zip

while for someone without it would print

Name
street
city, st zip

Thanks!!

Hello Allen, I wonder if you can tell me what rule to use and how for my problem at hand. I need to use the mail merge with a data source. I am not using the mail merge for mailing reasons, instead I am trying to print labels for a production plant. Is there a way I can print X amount of copies for 1 record based off of the "quantity" field in the data source? Let's say that my record source has 3 lines/rows. Row1 has a quantity of 2, Row2 has a quantity of 3, and Row3 has a quantity of 1. I will need 2 of the same labels printed for the first row followed by 3 of the same labels for the second row, followed by 1 label for the third row. I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Can not get this to work. How do you put the if statement in a Document so it will either print a line or not print the line? Do we need to start with Ctrl F9?

Thank you for resolving! I didn't use Ctrl+F9 for inner brackets in if block.

Jakub,

You need to add the OldCat column in your data source (Excel?) and make sure it is offset by one row from the Category column.

You also need to make sure that your merge fields are put into your Word document as actual fields, using Ctrl+F9 to insert each field (which creates the braces). The fact that you are getting back "Category}" with the ending brace indicates that you're not adding the merge field as an actual field.

-Allen

Hello Allen,
thank you for this tip using If ... Then ... Else in Mail Merge.

But your example doesnt work for me.
In MS Word I have following:
{ MERGEFIELD Item }
{ MERGEFIELD Category }
{ MERGEFIELD OldCat }
{ IF {MERGEFIELD Category} <> {MERGEFIELD OldCat} "first text" "second text" }

And the result for example for second record is:
Cats
1
1
Category}

Instead of:
Cats
1
1
second text

It takes me hours, but I cant figure out why it doesnt work.
Can you help me?

You have poor data structure if changing the order of the records changes the meaning. Also, the point of a mail merge is to separate out each record -- what are you doing with it that you need to compare it to the last one?

(I'm certain I've commented on this topic before, but I can't seem to find it right now).