Merging Time Fields

[Kim]

My data source has the time formatted in this manner: 08.30.00 and I want it
to print 8:30 am in Word yet it prints 12:00 am. If the time is 13.30.00, it
will print fine: 1:30 pm. What is wrong?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Try adding a

\@ "H:mm"

switch inside the closing } of the mergefield that is displayed when you use
Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of the field codes

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Kim]

Does not work. 13.30.00 will print correctly as 13:30 but 08.30.00 prints 0:00

It's treating these values differently.

 

[Graham Mayor]

From the Tools menu in Word, select Options and then go to the General tab
and check the box against the "Confirm conversions at open" item. (In Word
2007 it is Office Button > Word Options > Advanced > General > Confirm file
format conversion on open). Then when you attach the data source to the mail
merge main document, you will be given the option of using the DDE method of
connection which should read the data as you have it formatted in the table.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Kim]

My data source is a .txt file, it's generated from another application. I
tried all 3 DDE options available: Excel, Access, and Query, and none of
them work

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

I cannot replicate your problem using

{ MERGEFIELD "Start" \@ "h:mm am/pm" } { MERGEFIELD "Start" \@ "h:mm
am/pm" }

and a tab delimited text file containing

Start Finish
08:30:00 09:25:00
12:30:00 13:30:00
15:30:00 16:00:00

as the data source.

The result for the first record is

8:30 AM 9:25 AM

The connection to the datasource was the default method of connection.


--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Graham Mayor]

Post an offending sample of your data - like Doug I cannot reproduce the
fault on the basis of the information you have provided.

DDE is for Excel/Access, TXT should not be an issue.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Kim]

The time field in my text file is formatted like this:

08.30.00 13.30.00

separated by decimals not colons.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Change the text file to produce a legitimate time format by using colons
instead of decimals.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Kim]

I have no control over the text file since it's produced by another
application. I don't understand why 13.30.00 is interpretted correctly but
08.30.00 isn't.

 

[Rich/rerat]

Kim,
I believe your data/values are being read like this:
08.30.00 = August 30, 2000 or just August 30 at midnight or 00:00:00 hrs
Because the "08" can represent the month of August
13.30.00 = 13:30:00
Since there is no 13th month, the "13" (or higher figure), will reflect the
24/military time correctly.

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<<Previous Text Snipped to Save Bandwidth When Appropriate>>

I have no control over the text file since it's produced by another
application. I don't understand why 13.30.00 is interpretted correctly but
08.30.00 isn't.