date format changes in email-merge

[smarttart]

While creating an e-mail merge from Excel spreadsheet source data to Outlook
(via Word mail-merge assistant), the date format is converted from UK
dd/mm/yy to US mm/dd/yy. Potentially disastrous, since all the addressees
are British.
Have tried reformatting the cells as 'text' or 'general' in the spreadsheet,
but then it appears as a 5-digit number which still transfers as a US date.
Have also tried manually altering the merged document before sending - but
that overtypes the placeholder. 'Find & replace' only changes one record at a
time.
Any suggestions? All programs are Office 2003.

 

[DL]

I've just tried this with one of my excel/word merge docs (UK)
After simulating the merge (report errors in new doc) I also noticed US date
shown.
I highlighted the doc date field, rt click, edit field and selected the
format in the resulting window. All dates then changed to the selected UK
format.
I was however using a single date, dont know whether this makes a difference

 

[Beth Melton]

This is because you are using the default OLE DB data connection and
it only passes the data from Excel to Word which does not include
formatting.

You'll need to add a Date-Time picture switch to the merge field in
Word:

- Press Alt + F9 to toggle the field codes
- At the end of your date field add: \@ dd/MM/yy
- Press Alt + F9 to toggle off the field codes

Note that the month format must be in uppercase. A lowercase 'm' is
for minutes.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/