Symptoms

In Microsoft Word, when you create a mail merge document and then use the Mail Merge Wizard to insert the address block, the resulting address may not be in the correct format for all of the recipients. For example, when you address mail to an individual at a corporate address in England, the name of the company should come first and then the name of the individual. In the United States, the name of the individual should come before the name of the company. When you insert the address block from the Mail Merge Wizard into a mail merge document, the name of the individual always comes first, regardless of how the address is arranged in the address database.

Cause

This issue occurs because the address block in Word has only one format for each language.

Workaround

To work around this issue, insert individual address field names in the order that you want them to appear on an address. To insert individual field names, follow these steps:

  1. In Microsoft Office Word 2003 or in Microsoft Word 2002, point to Letters and Mailings on the Tools menu, and then click Mail Merge Wizard.In Microsoft Office Word 2007, click Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group on the Mailings tab, and then clickStep by Step Mail Merge Wizard.

  2. In the Mail Merge task pane, click Next until you reach step 3 of 6.

  3. Under Use an existing list, click Browse.

  4. In the Select Data Source dialog box, browse to the list that you want, and then click Open.

  5. In the Mail Merge Recipients list, click OK.

  6. Click Next to proceed to step 4 of 6.

  7. Click More items.

  8. In the Insert Merge Field dialog box, click Database Fields.

  9. In the Fields box, click the field name that you want to appear first in the address, and then click Insert.

  10. Click Close, and then place the insertion point where you want the next field name to appear.

  11. Repeat steps 7 through 10 until all the address data fields are placed where you want them.

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