Hi Debbie,
It's not a bug - it's just the way some mailmerge connection types work. Here's a series of simple fixes:
Mailmerge Number & Currency Formatting
In Word, add a numeric picture switch to the mergefield. To do this:
. select the field;
. press Ctrl-F9 to reveal the field coding. It should look something like {MERGEFIELD MyData};
. edit the field so that you get {MERGEFIELD MyData \# $,0.00} (or whatever other numeric format you prefer - see below);
. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
. run your mailmerge.
Note: The '\# $0.00' in the field is referred to as a numeric picture switch. Other possibilities include:
. \# 0 for rounded whole numbers
. \# ,0 for rounded whole numbers with a thousands separator
. \# ,0.00 for numbers accurate to two decimal places, with a thousands separator
. \# $,0 for rounded whole dollars with a thousands separator
. \# $,0.00;($,0.00);- for currency, with brackets around negative numbers and a hyphen for 0 values
The precision of the displayed value is controilled by the '0.00'. You can use anything from '0' to '0.000000000000000'.
If you use a final ';' in the formatting switch with nothing following, (eg \# $,0.00;($,0.00)
zero values will be suppressed. Note that this suppresses 0s resulting from empty fields and from fields containing 0s.
Mailmerge Percentage Formatting
In Word, add a formula and numeric picture switch to the mergefield. To do this:
. select your mergefield, which will look something like «Percent»;
. press Ctrl-F9 to wrap another field around it, thus - { «Percent» };
. edit the field so that you get {=«Percent»*100 \# 0.00%};
. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it.
Note: the precision of the displayed value is controilled by the '0.00'. You can use anything from '0' to '0.000000000000000'.
Mailmerge Date Formatting
To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch. In Word:
. select the mergefield;
. press Shift-F9 to expose the field coding. It should look something like {MERGEFIELD MyDate} where 'MyDate' is your mergefield's name;
. delete anything appearing after the mergefield's name and add '\@ "d MMMM yyyy"' to the field, as in {MERGEFIELD MyDate \@ "d MMMM yyyy"}. With this switch your date will come out as '2 August 2008'. Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: you must use uppercase 'M's for months.
. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it.
As you can see, the above gives you the flexibility to define outputs formats for your mailmerge that differ from the source data fomats - if that's what you'd like to do. When you're done, run your mailmerge.
Cheers
