When doing mail merge, I see { rather than when inserting

When inserting the mail merge fields, the command signs when inserting that
I've seen is { }, wheras what supposed to be there is . How do I correct
this problem?

Word provides three "views" of fields:
a. the "field code" view, where field code braces show as { }

b. the "field result" view, where you either see the field's actual
result, or a field surrounded by chevrons depending on the field
type. Only a few types show with chevrons, i.e.
{ MERGEFIELD fields }, which show the name of the field between the
chevrons, e.g.

{ MERGEFIELD myfield } shows as myfield
and NEXTIF, NEXT, SKIPIF, MERGEREC and MERGESEQ fields, which have
vaguely descriptive text "results"

c. the "data Preview" view, where you get to see the results of the {
MERGEFIELD fields as well, and all the other field types that show with
chevrons disappear.

Changing from { } to is generally a matter of
a. clicking Alt-F9 to toggle between "field code" view and one of the
other views, as necessary, /and/
a. clicking on the preview mode button in the MailMerge toolbar in
Word 2003 or earlier (you can enable the toolbar in Word 2002/2003 using
View-Toolbars) or in the Mailings tab in Word 2007

However because it is also possible to toggle the view of individual
field codes, sometimes you get to see both { } and in a single
document - which is why some of the articles in this group show both, as
they are intended to reflect what a user would typically see if they
follow the instructions in the message.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

barbequebob wrote:
When inserting the mail merge fields, the command signs when inserting that
I've seen is { }, wheras what supposed to be there is . How do I correct
this problem?