Bug in Excel 2002 to Word merge?

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Dwight Morse - 19 Jan 2004 16:10 GMT

I'm frustrated by what seems to be a bug in the Excel XP
(2002) to Word XP merge process, related to numeric
fields. If I merge a number in Excel formatted with two
decimal places to a Word document (e.g., 423.61), the
number comes out in Word with a large number of decimal
places, such as 423.6093000000023. I have tried using the
=round function in Excel to force just two decimal places,
but that doesn't work. The only way around it is to use
the =text function to convert the data to a string before
merging. That works, but it's a hassle, particularly since
the "display mask" part of the =text function (the second
part of the formula) isn't a very elegant implementation.
(In a long column of numbers, a given mask won't work for
all numbers.)

I never had a problem with this in Word/Excel 97. Has
anyone else encountered this problem? If so, is there
another way around it, or are you aware of a fix?

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Graham Mayor - 19 Jan 2004 16:26 GMT

This is not a bug. It is intentional. Microsoft changed the default method
of connection to data. Word is now expected to provide the formatting. This
is easy to do with a switch on the merge field; or you can revert to the
earlier connection method. Both options are discussed at:

http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm
and
http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm
respectively

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<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail gmayor@mvps.org
Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

> I'm frustrated by what seems to be a bug in the Excel XP
> (2002) to Word XP merge process, related to numeric
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> anyone else encountered this problem? If so, is there
> another way around it, or are you aware of a fix?

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rosie - 20 Jan 2004 08:09 GMT

I am having the same problem and very frustrated - can
anyone out there help?

>-----Original Message-----
>I'm frustrated by what seems to be a bug in the Excel XP
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>another way around it, or are you aware of a fix?
>.

Reply to this Message

Graham Mayor - 20 Jan 2004 08:46 GMT

Do you not see my reply dated yesterday in this thread?

Signature

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail gmayor@mvps.org
Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

> I am having the same problem and very frustrated - can
> anyone out there help?
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>> another way around it, or are you aware of a fix?
>> .

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