How do I set default values for empty fields?

When a spreadsheet cell is empty, a normal token leaves a blank space in your email. Add the Liquid `default` filter — `{{ ColumnName | default: 'Fallback' }}` — to insert fallback text instead. Use it for greetings, optional fields, and any column that isn't always filled.

A normal mail merge token looks like this {{ColumnName}}

or if it contains spaces:

{{ ["Column Name"] }}

This will insert the value found in the column called ‘ColumnName’ (or ‘Column Name’ respectively).

If the cell is empty it will result in an empty value being inserted — leaving a blank gap, a stray comma, or an awkward “Hi ,” in your email. To avoid that, give the token a fallback value with the default filter.

The default filter

Add | default: 'Your fallback' inside the token. SecureMailMerge inserts the fallback whenever the cell is empty, and the real value whenever it isn’t:

{{ ColumnName | default: 'Default value' }}

or if it contains spaces:

{{ ["Column Name"] | default: 'Default value' }}

A real-world example

A common use is a greeting where not every row has a first name:

Hi {{ FirstName | default: 'there' }},

• Rows with a first name produce Hi Sarah,
• Rows with an empty FirstName cell produce Hi there,

The same pattern works for any optional column — a company name, an account manager, a discount code:

Your account manager is {{ ["Account Manager"] | default: 'our support team' }}.

Default values and whitespace-only cells

The default filter treats a cell as empty when it is truly blank. A cell that contains only spaces is not caught by default — it counts as a value, so the (invisible) spaces are inserted instead of your fallback.

If your data might contain space-only cells, clean them up in the spreadsheet first, or use a condition with the blank keyword, which matches both empty and space-only cells:

{% if FirstName != blank %}Hi {{FirstName}},{% else %}Hi there,{% endif %}

Default value or condition — which should I use?

• Use the default filter when you just need a single fallback word or phrase in place of a missing value. It’s shorter and reads inline.
• Use a condition when you need to show or hide a whole block of content, branch between several options, or handle space-only cells reliably.

The two combine well — you can put a {{ ... | default: ... }} token inside an {% if %} block.

Related

• Using conditions to show or hide content — if / else logic for whole blocks of text.
• How dates are formatted in a mail merge — control how date columns appear.