Mail Merge: Preventing a Name and Address from being Separated by a Page Break

[Nick2112]

Hi everyone!

In a mail merge where the outcome is a list of names and addresses
several pages long, how can I prevent the name and address for a record
from being separated by a page break? I'd like to keep a record
together on the same page, without having to go back and adjust it
manually. I tried 'Keep Lines Together', but that didn't seem to work.

Thanks!

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hi everyone!

In a mail merge where the outcome is a list of names and addresses
several pages long, how can I prevent the name and address for a record
from being separated by a page break? I'd like to keep a record
together on the same page, without having to go back and adjust it
manually. I tried 'Keep Lines Together', but that didn't seem to work.

Thanks!

Set "keep with next" on every line except the last for each complete
address block.

Keep together can't do anything sensible with page after page of
paragraphs with that property. Imagine the poor little pagination
algorithm when faced with every line being so labelled. It is no better
off than if none were labelled. When it gets near the end of a page,
it's gotta do what a paginator has to do.

Depending on how automatically your address list is created, consider
defining styles with or without "keep with next" and using them
appropriately.

If you are typing 'em all in by hand, consider a keyboard shortcut to
toggle "keep with next".

PS. Don't cheapskate on this to change only those that break badly.
You'll see why every time you add another address into the list.

 

[Nick2112]

Thanks Elliot! I used 'Keep with Next' and it works well. I'll have
to check into the use of Styles...

Thanks again!

 

[Elliott Roper]

Thanks Elliot! I used 'Keep with Next' and it works well. I'll have
to check into the use of Styles...

Thanks again!

You are most welcome. It is nice to know something worked.

Cunning use of styles and keep with next is the best way to get Word
working for you instead of having to fight it to the death on every
line break.

 

[CyberTaz]

Keep together can't do anything sensible with page after page of
paragraphs with that property.

Although I completely agree with your point & the fact that Keep with Next
is the correct choice, I couldn't help jumping in to defend Keep *Lines*
Together - it really is useful & effective if applied correctly, such as
preventing a _cogent thought_ being interrupted by a column/page break... I
remember from when I once had one;-)

 

[Elliott Roper]

Although I completely agree with your point & the fact that Keep with Next
is the correct choice, I couldn't help jumping in to defend Keep *Lines*
Together - it really is useful & effective if applied correctly, such as
preventing a _cogent thought_ being interrupted by a column/page break... I
remember from when I once had one;-)

I never found a use for "keep lines together" which could not be done
more elegantly with "keep with next". Is there one?

I was falling into Nick's trap, and never having it clear in my head
what it would do at the edges. Indeed, after a couple of experiments,
I'm not clear it does anything at all to adjacent paragraphs with keep
lines together. The experiments seem to show that it acts as a clue to
keep all the lines of a single paragraph on the same page.

Word's help on the topic seems to have been carefully written by
someone who did not understand the difference and was too scared to
ask.

 

[CyberTaz]

Now you've gone and forced me to try to *remember* why I did something at a
distant time in the past... and I probably didn't understand why even
then!

Seems like it was at the end of a chapter/section where there was no next
para to keep with & I didn't want that last para to split across the break.
Widow/Orphan Control wasn't sufficient and Page Break Before wasn't the
desired effect. IIRC, in that case it acts somewhat like a 'conditional end
of page', so if the whole para won't fit the page break occurs but it
doesn't automatically generate a page break if the para *will* fit. I think
I still sometimes apply it "just in case", perhaps without really needing to
do so.