Indesign CS2 Data Merge Question

[orka81]

I have an excel file with simple info to place into indesign using data merge.

the fields are Salutation, first name, last name, address, city, state, zip, so that it might read:

Mr. John Smith
123 Main Street
Anytown, IN 46554

the salutation is optional, so this field amy be blank or filled with 'Mr.' 'Mrs.' and so on.

when i run data merge on it, i set up a space between the salutation and first name, and so on.

if page 1 has a salutation, it previews fine, if page 2 does not, then there is an extra space before the first name, so that it will read:


is there an easy way to get rid of that extra space that does not require manually removing it?

thanks in advance

orka81

[IgnatiusTheKing]

You could do a Find & Replace. Find two spaces and replace with one.

[flrazor]

While not necessarily "easy", you could add a space after the salutations in the database such as "Mr. " and then remove the space between the salutation and first name in your document. When you merge it should line up better.

It's a tedious thing to fix the first time, but if you are going to re-use this database over and over, it might be worth the time investment now to make life easier later.