How can I keep the bottom portion of a document from shifting?

[AmnNkD]

I'm using Mail Merge to create a document that has a perferated section at
the bottom of the page. The information in the bottom portion must start at
11.2" and cannot shift or it runs into the preprinted portion of the form.
I've tried section breaks and also putting the bottom portion in the footer,
but it still shifts based on how many lines are in the address of the
recipient of the letter. I merge hundreds of these letters and it is very
time consuming to go through each letter to see the placement of the bottom
section. Thank you!

 

[Dallas64]

I would use a footer for this. In Page Setup, Layout, Headers and Footers,
you can select where the header ends and where the footer starts. You can
also put mail-merge fields into footers. Therefore, all the text you want to
start at 11.2 from the top can instead start at xx.x from the bottom,
depending on how long your page is, and will not be affected by the body of
the document.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You could put it in a text box or frame with the position set as Bottom
Relative to Margin (or Page).

 

[AmnNkD]

Where my problem begins is with the client address. Some contain 3 lines and
some 4 lines. The letters that have 3 lines are perfectly lined up, but when
that 4th line pops in there it shifts the entire document down, which messes
up the section that goes on the perforated part. Is there any way to keep
that section from moving? (I have tried a section break and it still moves;
as it also does when I make that portion a footer.) Thank you for all your
assistance.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You could put the bottom portion of the document (the part that must not
move) in a text box or frame with the position set as Bottom Relative to
Margin (or Page).

Alternatively, you could put the address fields in a table cell with Exact
row height, with alignment set to Bottom. If there are only three lines, you
get one more blank line between the inside address and the date.

 

[Dallas64]

When you use Mail Merge, MS Word is designed to delete empty lines in an
address. You are going to have to redesign your letter so that it is
perfectly lined up when a 4th line pops in. Otherwise, you will have to stop
using 4 line addresses because they won't ever fit. Then use a work-around
to make sure there are always 4 lines.

One possible work-around is to put an 'If, Then, Else' field directly in
front of the name, using the Insert Word Field button on the Mailmerge
Toolbar. When I draft letters I use the following fields, which I will refer
to for this example:
*[Name]
[Address1]
[Address2]
[City State Zipcode (or CSZ)]

For your application, I would place my cursor where the "*" is, then hit the
Insert Word Field button. Select 'If, Then, Else.' A window will pop up
with several blocks. In my example, you would pull down and select
[Address2] under Field Name. Under Comparison, you would select "is blank".
Under Insert this text, press your enter key. Don't put anything in
Otherwise insert this text. Press OK. This will result with an extra blank
line above your address.

If this messes up how your address is aligned with your date, you could
instead put the same 'If, Then Else' field immediately above where the
perforation is supposed to go, or anywhere else that would make the document
look good.

I have found these 'If, Then, Else' fields to be very powerful. Once you
insert it, you can hit Alt-F9, then both see and change what goes in the True
and False criteria, including putting additional mail-merge fields when
appropriate - but that is going beyond your question. Alt-F9 is a toggle, so
when you want to stop seeing code and go back to what you document really
looks like, just hit it again.