Knowledge Base

WD: Date, Currency Results Incorrect Merging from Access Database

Article ID: 188791

Article Last Modified on 8/17/2005

Microsoft Word 6.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Word 6.0a
Microsoft Word 6.0c
Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Word 95a

This article was previously published under Q188791

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a mail merge using ODBC with a Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel data source, the merge results for Date, Phone Number, and Currency fields are incorrect. For example, the Date field appears in the following format:

1995-10-22 00:00:00

The Currency field appears in the following format:

12.00

The Phone Number field from Microsoft Access appears in the following format:

-7081234567.00

CAUSE

The data appears in its native, stored format in Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel. When you use DDE to convert the Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel data instead of ODBC, the data is "masked" to display the correct format.

RESOLUTION

Method 1:Use DDE to Connect to the Microsoft Access or Excel Database

To do this, select the Select Method (Confirm Conversion) check box in the Open Data Source dialog box, locate and select your Access/Excel database, and then click Open. In the Confirm Data Source dialog box, select Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel Database via DDE (*.mdb) and click OK.

NOTE: If DDE is not available, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

137076 Can't Use Microsoft Access Files (.mdb or DDE) with Word

Method 2: Use ODBC and add a picture switch to the Date/Currency fields.

Include a numeric picture switch (\#) in the Currency field, so that the Currency field looks like this:

{mergefield number \# $####,0.0}

NOTE: The {mergefield number \# $####,0.0} string works for SQL Server 6 as well.

Include a numeric picture switch (\#) in the Phone Number field, so that the Phone Number field looks like this:

(mergefield phone \# ###'-'###'-'####}

NOTE: The hyphen inside the merge field is enclosed in single quotation marks.

For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

121938 WD: Hyphens Don't Display Correctly with Numeric 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; also, you must use quotation marks around the picture string.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words: 7.0 winword access database data source odbc dde mail merge print merging merged records results fields mergefield currency money dollars $ date time wrong incorrect change how to switch picture numeric number decimal thousandths telephone access97 2.0 6.0 word6

Keywords: kbbug kbmerge kbpending KB188791