MSW grader 3: "mail merge operation was not performed correctly"

Recently I've seen a spate of similar errors for step 15 of the chapter 3 grader. This is the step asking you to insert an address block before your merge:

"Preview the results. Select the first two lines of the address block (Andryne Blake and 3809 Constitution Ave.) and remove all paragraph spacing. Finish the merge process, editing individual documents and merging all records. Press CTRL+A to select all of the merged document and copy the selection. Display Exp19_Word_Ch03_CapAssessment_Smoke, move the insertion point to the end of the document, and insert a page break. Paste all copied text, resulting in a 7-page document" (emphasis mine)

The Pearson results do not give detail about the merge error; this is partially because the real issue comes from the previous step (14):

"Begin a mail merge process, creating Letters and selecting Sheet1$ of Patrons.xlsx as the recipient list. Edit the recipient list to sort by Last Name in ascending order. Filter the data source to select only those with a Zip of 49800. Replace [Address Block] on page 1 with the Address Block merge field, accepting the default address block arrangement. Replace [Greeting Line] with the Greeting Line merge field, accepting the default greeting line arrangement.

Note, Mac users, for the Address block, you will need to insert the First_Name field, press SPACEBAR, and insert the Last_Name field. Press ENTER. Insert the Address field. Press ENTER. Insert the City field, type a comma (,), press SPACEBAR, insert the State field, press SPACEBAR, and then insert the Zip field.

For the Greeting line, Mac users will need to type Dear, press SPACEBAR, insert the First_Name field, press SPACEBAR, insert the Last_Name field, and type a comma (,).

To sort and filter the data source, Mac users will need to select Filter Recipient and proceed with instructions" (emphasis mine)

Looking at the Mac instructions for step 14, we can see the syntax required for the perfect score. Sometimes the default is not set to match Pearson's expectations. Before you merge, double check that the fields look as follows:

<<First_Name>> <<Last_Name>>

<<Address>>

<<City>>, <<State>> <<Zip>>

Dear <<First_Name>> <<Last_Name>>,

Note that there should only be one space between fields. Turn on your nonprinting characters to confirm.

The most common errors are:

• missing commas

• an extra space between state and zip

Hope this helps. Please reach out if you have any questions.