PUB98: Date and Number Formats Change During Mail Merge (157788)
The information in this article applies to:
This article was previously published under Q157788 SYMPTOMS
If you use a database that contains dates or numbers as the data
source for a Publisher mail merge, those dates or numbers may have a
different format in Publisher than in the program that created the
database. For example, if you have cells in a Microsoft Excel Workbook
that appear to contain the following data
January 1, 1996 $3.25 98025-1234
the data may appear like this in your merged publication:
1/1/96 3.25 980251234
Entering numbers containing leading zeros will be ignored during the
Publisher mail merge. This occurs even if having the leading zeros appear
correctly in Microsoft Excel. The example below is a zip code for Boston,
MA.
02110
the data may appear like this in your merged publication:
2110
CAUSE
Many database and spreadsheet programs use input masks to control how
data appears when you view it on screen. In Microsoft Excel, for example,
if you type some data in a date format (such as 1/1/96) or a number format
(such as 02110), Microsoft Excel automatically applies an input mask to
make that data appear as January 1,1996. The actual number that is saved in
the workbook is 1/1/96, Microsoft Excel changes the appearance of the data
on the fly.
Input masks are part of the source application, not the database file
itself. When you use a database as a data source in Publisher,
Publisher receives the raw data without the input masks.
Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c and Microsoft Office 97 for
Windows use input masks and exhibit the above symptoms.
RESOLUTION
Most programs that create databases and spreadsheets have a feature
to save as a delimited text file. Usually, if you export a database or
spreadsheet as a text file, the text file contains the result of the
input masks, not the raw data.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products
listed at the beginning of this article.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 11/6/1999 |
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| Keywords: | kbinterop kbmerge kbprb KB157788 |
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