date format in mailmerge

[cacuk]

I am using a template with data from Excel in dd/mmm/yy format but
when it puts it on mail merge it is changing it to yy/dd/mm

My system is seet to English UK but still keeps changing it to USA
date format

How can I change this? 2003 worked fine!

 

[macropod]

Hi cacuk,

To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch. In Word:
.. select the mergefield;
.. press Shift-F9 to expose the field coding. It should look something like {MERGEFIELD MyDate} where 'MyDate' is your mergefield's
name;
.. delete anything appearing after the mergefield's name and add '\@ "d MMMM yyyy"' to the field, as in {MERGEFIELD MyDate \@ "d MMMM
yyyy"}. With this switch your dates will come out like '17 June 2009'. Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: Note: you can swap the d, M, y expressions around, but you must use uppercase 'M's for months.
.. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
.. run your mailmerge.

 

[Scoop]

I am having a similar problem. My field is called 'Date' If I insert the
field into word in the normal way it appears formatted mm/dd/yy. I have one
record for each date of the month of June in my Excel Data Source. When I
page through the word document, each date changes as you would expect.

If I change the Date format something like ddd dd-mmm-yyyy every record in
the Word document defaults to todays date. Every record always keeps todays
date whichever format I use. The only way I can get the date to change like
it should, is if I dono format it and leave it as and Inserted field, but I
am left with a format, mm/dd/yy, that nobody wants

I'm confused.

Iam sure I am making a basic error, however, the Excel spreadsheet looks
fine ?? I even made a totally nesw sample Excel datasource, and balnk word
document to test, but get the ssame result. Every record has todays date,
unless I leave the field as an insert with the default date formatting.

Can any one help

Thanks

Hi cacuk,

To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch. In Word:
.. select the mergefield;
.. press Shift-F9 to expose the field coding. It should look something like {MERGEFIELD MyDate} where 'MyDate' is your mergefield's
name;
.. delete anything appearing after the mergefield's name and add '\@ "d MMMM yyyy"' to the field, as in {MERGEFIELD MyDate \@ "d MMMM
yyyy"}. With this switch your dates will come out like '17 June 2009'. Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: Note: you can swap the d, M, y expressions around, but you must use uppercase 'M's for months.
.. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
.. run your mailmerge.


--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]
PS: I think you've mixed up something in your post about the date formats - yy/mm/dd isn't the US date format (it's mm/dd/yy).

I am using a template with data from Excel in dd/mmm/yy format but
when it puts it on mail merge it is changing it to yy/dd/mm

My system is seet to English UK but still keeps changing it to USA
date format

How can I change this? 2003 worked fine!

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Are you sure that when you display the field codes (Alt+F9) that you have:

{ MERGEFIELD Date \@ "ddd, d MMM yyyy" }

That certainly returns the data from the data source and not the today's
date here.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

I am having a similar problem. My field is called 'Date' If I insert the
field into word in the normal way it appears formatted mm/dd/yy. I have
one
record for each date of the month of June in my Excel Data Source. When I
page through the word document, each date changes as you would expect.

If I change the Date format something like ddd dd-mmm-yyyy every record
in
the Word document defaults to todays date. Every record always keeps
todays
date whichever format I use. The only way I can get the date to change
like
it should, is if I dono format it and leave it as and Inserted field, but
I
am left with a format, mm/dd/yy, that nobody wants

I'm confused.

Iam sure I am making a basic error, however, the Excel spreadsheet looks
fine ?? I even made a totally nesw sample Excel datasource, and balnk word
document to test, but get the ssame result. Every record has todays date,
unless I leave the field as an insert with the default date formatting.

Can any one help

Thanks

Hi cacuk,

To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch.
In Word:
.. select the mergefield;
.. press Shift-F9 to expose the field coding. It should look something
like {MERGEFIELD MyDate} where 'MyDate' is your mergefield's
name;
.. delete anything appearing after the mergefield's name and add '\@ "d
MMMM yyyy"' to the field, as in {MERGEFIELD MyDate \@ "d MMMM
yyyy"}. With this switch your dates will come out like '17 June 2009'.
Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: Note: you can swap the d, M, y expressions around, but you must
use uppercase 'M's for months.
.. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
.. run your mailmerge.


--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]
PS: I think you've mixed up something in your post about the date
formats - yy/mm/dd isn't the US date format (it's mm/dd/yy).

I am using a template with data from Excel in dd/mmm/yy format but
when it puts it on mail merge it is changing it to yy/dd/mm

My system is seet to English UK but still keeps changing it to USA
date format

How can I change this? 2003 worked fine!