SYMPTOMS
When you perform a mail merge in Microsoft Word by using OLEDB with a Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel data source, the merge results for the Date, Phone Number, and Currency fields are incorrect. For example:
The Date field is displayed in the following format:
The Phone Number field from an Access data source is displayed in the following format:
The Currency field is displayed in the following format:
WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.
In Microsoft Word
Use a switch to format the results of the MERGEFIELD. To do this, use one of the following methods.
Note To view the field codes in Microsoft Word, press ALT+F9.
Method 1: Use the Numeric Picture Switch
Include a numeric picture switch (\#) similar to one of the following examples:
In a currency field, use a Numeric Picture switch similar to:
{MERGEFIELD number \# $####,0.0}
Note The
{MERGEFIELD number \# $####,0.0
} string works for Microsoft SQL Server 6 as well.
In a telephone field, use a Numeric Picture switch similar to:
{MERGEFIELD phone \# ###'-'###'-'####}
Note The hyphen inside the mergefield is in single quotation marks.
For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
121938
Hyphens don't display correctly with numeric picture switch
Method 2: Use the Date-Time Picture Switch
Include a date-time picture switch (\@) in the Date field, so that the Date field looks like this:
{MERGEFIELD date \@ "MMMM d, yyyy"}
Note The picture switch is case-sensitive. Additionally, you must use quotation marks around the picture string.
In Microsoft Access
Create a query in Microsoft Access, and use the query in your Word mail merge. In the Microsoft Access query, use the FORMAT() function to format the data to be merged in Microsoft Word.
For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
197520
How to use a query to format data for a mail merge