Mail merge switches

Mail merge switches are special commands that can be used in a mail merge document to control the behavior of the merge process. Here are some common mail merge switches:

Switches for controlling the merge process

• MERGEFORMAT: This switch tells Word to merge the data into the document using the current formatting.
• NOCONVERT: This switch tells Word not to convert the data to the document's character set.
• NOFMT: This switch tells Word not to format the data.
• NOGAP: This switch tells Word not to insert a space between the merged data and the surrounding text.
• NOKEEP: This switch tells Word not to keep the original data in the document.

Switches for controlling the output

• OUTPUT: This switch specifies the output file name and location.
• OUTPUTDIR: This switch specifies the output directory.
• OUTPUTFILE: This switch specifies the output file name.
• OUTPUTFORMAT: This switch specifies the output file format (e.g. PDF, DOCX, etc.).

Switches for controlling the data source

• DATASOURCE: This switch specifies the data source file name and location.
• DATASOURCEFORMAT: This switch specifies the format of the data source file (e.g. CSV, XML, etc.).
• DATASOURCENAME: This switch specifies the name of the data source.

Switches for controlling the merge fields

• MERGEFIELD: This switch specifies the merge field to use in the document.
• MERGEFIELDNAME: This switch specifies the name of the merge field.
• MERGEFIELDTYPE: This switch specifies the type of the merge field (e.g. text, date, etc.).

Switches for controlling the merge options

• MERGEOPTIONS: This switch specifies the merge options (e.g. whether to merge in the background, etc.).
• MERGEOPTION: This switch specifies a specific merge option (e.g. whether to merge in the background, etc.).

Here are some examples of how to use mail merge switches:

• To merge a document using the current formatting, use the MERGEFORMAT switch: MERGEFORMAT
• To specify the output file name and location, use the OUTPUT switch: OUTPUT C:\Output\Document.docx
• To specify the data source file name and location, use the DATASOURCE switch: DATASOURCE C:\Data\DataSource.csv
• To specify the merge field to use in the document, use the MERGEFIELD switch: MERGEFIELD FirstName

Note that the exact syntax and available switches may vary depending on the version of Word and the operating system you are using.