Unwanted Initial Paragraph (Carriage Return) on Labels

[Ken_Bures]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

I am making Avery 5160 address labels using the Mail Merge feature of Word 2008 for Mac. The addresses come from an Excel file which has four columns: Name, Address1, Address 2 and Address 3. I format the label in Mail Merge Manager so each of these fields occupies a line on the label. But when the merge occurs, the text in the individual labels is off-center vertically because an initial paragraph (carriage return) has been inserted as the first line of the label. How do I avoid this?

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Ken -

Are you sure there is actually an empty paragraph or is it just "extra
space"? IOW, if you display the non-printing characters in the main label
doc do you see a ¶ at the top?

If not the space must be caused by something else - maybe applying Space
Before paragraph formatting or using a Style that includes it.

If it is actually an empty paragraph the 2 most likely causes [in order of
likelihood] are (a) that the return key really was pressed before inserting
the first field, or (b) that the data records in the Excel file do include a
carriage return before each Name. Although unlikely, the second can easily
happen if the data was pasted into the Excel file from another source.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac