Merge field formatting

[Jim]

Using MS Word 2000, I need to format a 6-digit merge field as a date.
I try: { MERGEFIELD Date1 \@ M/d/yy } where Date1 is the field name, but I
only get the six digits e.g. 102004 showing in my letter. What am I missing?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I think Word thinks your 102004 is a number.

Assuming it means 20th October 2004, as a first shot, try the following,
where each pair of {} are the special field braces you can insert using
ctrl-F9:

{ QUOTE { MERGEFIELD Date1 \#"00/00/00" } \@M/D/Y }

Make sure the M, D and Y are uppercase.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Jim]

Peter, thanks for the suggestion. However, I get an error: "Too many picture
switches defined." My date is coming in via a .CSV file. I don't know how I
could tell Word that the value is a date and not just a 6-digit number.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Are you sure all the {} are field code braces? It seems to work OK here.

Try { MERGEFIELD Date1 \#"00/00/00" }

first, then create a new field

{ QUOTE "" \@M/D/Y }

and copy/paste the mergefield inside the quotes.

Peter Jamieson