Monday, September 28, 2015

Merge Formatting

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The data in Access or Excel has been formatted. You have leading zeros, percents, currency is formatted and so on.

Word 2000+, however loses the formatting when a mail merge is attempted.

Here's a fix.

Word has three potential data access methods, the "old fashioned" ODBC or DDE and the newer OLE DB.

ODBC and OLE DB can, quickly, extract data from a source application without opening the program. The application does not even have to be installed.

The downside is that these methods do not transfer the formatting in the data file. Individual MERGEFIELDs need to be formatted in Word.

DDE can be used with Excel and Access. It communicates with the source and carries the formatting into the target document. This is how it worked before Word 2002.

To have a choice go to:
Tools>Options>General "Confirm Conversions at Open"

When you connect to the Data Source, a dialog box will give you the opportunity to choose the type of connection to use.


If you don't see DDE, check Show all.
Also see:

Cindy Meister:
Mail Merge FAQ

Here are some other Mail Merge resources:
Mail Merge Links


See all Topics

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