I've got an Access database of addresses that include a zip code. Access
displays an autoformat for these that looks OK. When I include the field
in a merge for address labels in Word XP instead of coming out as
12345-6789 it shows up as 123456789. I've had to go back an manually
put in the hyphen.

Another part of the problem is that this happens with some, but not all of
the records from Access. My best guess is that that those record were
imported earlier and actually have the hyphen in the field data. The newer
entries that were made from within Access show this problem. Apparently
Access is simply delivering 9 digits to Word for those entries.

My question is what can I do about this? Is there a way to convince Word
to put in the hypen? Do I need to remove any digits past 5 in all my address
lists? Is there another merge procedure I should be using? (Right now I use
the merge wizards in Word XP and select the address label type.)

Also the postal bar code doesn't seem to work. It says the Zip code field
is illegal!?

Thanks in advance.