Word 2003 Mail Merge is generating zero values.

[Melissa]

Ugh, in order to stream line a tedious process I am trying to merge data
from excel into word. All fields are entered in the data source (excel)
and when they merge 2 of my imputed fields are coming up ZERO? Why?
They are entered. This small problem is making what would otherwise
save us from a huge time suck... HELP HELP HELP.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

What data is in the fields?

From the Tools menu in Word, select Options and go to the General tab and
check the box against the "Confifm conversions at open" item. Then when you
attach the data source to the mail merge main document, try using the DDE
option that you can select in the dialog that will appear.

--
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

 

[Melissa]

So sorry I couldn't reply, I had an emergency family situation and had to
take time off work unexpectedly. The data is phone numbers and general text
field describing an alternatvie rental car company.

ANd I checked the general tab in the tools menu and I didn't see that
particular tab, can I do this in word 2003?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

The instructions that I gave you were for Word 2003.

--
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

 

[Peter Jamieson]

For the "why", see http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk/t0003.htm (you will need a bit of
time ).

 

[Graham Mayor]

It is the fourth item in tools > options > general?

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Virgo66]

Is this the long term fix you recommend for this problem? I am having the
same issue with my mailmerge -- two text fields come up as '0', even though
others work.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

The origin of these problems is described in
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk/t0003.htm.

As for longer term fixes,
a. I would always consider the possibility of not using Excel to store data
(particularly if you have a lot of it) - these days you can keep data in
various free databases, using Excel as a user interface if you prefer. But
then you get your data directly from that database for Word merges.
Otherwise you end up having to use Excel with more caution than is normally
necessary purely to get around problems in the ODBC/OLE DB providers.
b. other than changing to DDE, for this particular case I think the only
simple option in Excel is to select the column and set the cell format to
Text /before/ you enter any data, or follow the section on "Format a column
as text via Data|Text to Columns..." in the abovementioned article. Dealing
with ZIPs and dates is somewhat trickier.