Word Changes Date Format in Mailing List

[Todor]

I´m using Word 2003 Brazilian Version to make an Mailing List doc. The data
base is in a Excel 2003 Brazilian Version file (all under WinXP SP2 Brazilian
with all Regional Preferences set correctly).
Everything goes smoothly until it tries to merge the date field.
In Excel they are set to the Brazilian way (DD/MM/YYYY), but when Word
merges it, everything goes to (MM/DD/YYYY). I tried all sorts of
configurations, even formatting the Excel Cell in Date mode, Personal
mode...etc....
Nothing seems to work, and all dates are inverted as soon as Word sees the
fields (even using the Wizard). Have you seen such thing?

 

[Beth Melton]

This is due to using a OLD DB connection instead of the previous DDE
connection. There are two ways to workaround this:

- Use a DDE connection instead
- Use a date-time format switch for the merge field to format it

DDE:
- In Word under Tools/Options/General turn on "Confirm conversions at
open"
- Select the Excel data source again and when prompted select the DDE
method

Picture switch:
- Press Alt + F9 to toggle on the field codes
- At the end of the merge field add: \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy"
- Press Alt + F9 to toggle off the field codes
- Right-click the field and select Update field if necessary


Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Office 2007 Preview Site:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx
Office 2007 Community Articles/Tutorials:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/community/article_archive.mspx

TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/