excel formatting when merged is lost

[Old Bob]

Just updatded from Office 97 to Office 2003. when I do mail merge and my
data is in excel, the formatting of columns with numbers and zip codes do not
retain the coding. A number of 72.08 comes into the letter as
72.99999999999999908 and the zip codes drop the first 0--06082 comes over as
6082. How can I correct this?

 

[Graham Mayor]

See http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm
You'll probably find
http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm helpful in
overcoming the transition.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Old Bob]

Thank you for the link..So all formatting is done in the word document (much
harder for me) when I look at the merged field, say on the zip code it only
says merged zip and for the invoice amount is only says merged invoice amt.
these are the headers I have in my excel spreadsheet. How do I get the
second field referred to in your link so I can adjust?
I appreciate your help.

 

[Graham Mayor]

I am not sure what you mean

If you insert a field from the menu it will be placed as (e.g.) <<ZIP>>
If you toggle that field ALT+F9 it will show {Mergefield ZIP} Add the switch
within the brackets then toggle the display back and update the field. You
can insert fields manually by using CTRL+F9 for each pair of field
delimiters {}

If that's not what you meant, please explain.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Old Bob]

In other words you have to manually type, for example for the zip code, after
the (Mergedfield Zip) I have to manually type in the "Switch" in your
document, of \#"00000" before the last ). When I did this for the zip and
dollar amounts they appeared correctly. It seems very cumbersome that way
however. Is there an easier way? Are these commands in your linked article
somewhere in Word where I can access these and other switch commands or save
what I have done ---or just don't loose your link?
Old Bob thanks you again.........

 

[Old Bob]

Another thought, I was reading other possible solutions and the one that
suggests that I go into tols..options...general and check confirm conversion
at open" and when merging select "DDE option" brings the formatting over from
excel as it did in Office 97. You just have to have the "sheet" in the first
slot (no option this way of selecting a different sheet). Is there any
problem or something I should watch out for using this method? Much easier
than the "switches" that might be more usefull in more complicated mail merge
functions--I will there too someday I am sure.

 

[Graham Mayor]

You can use the DDE option as you have discovered, but inserting fields and
their switches manually is by far the simplest method of constructing merge
documents and essential if you want to use complex conditional fields.


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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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