Simplify the formatting of merge documents

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ignatious - 19 Dec 2005 23:31 GMT

I have a Word merge document that has worked fine for several years- at least
until I had the misfortune to upgrade to Office 2003. Now I am having to
learn about switches to format data as dollars.

Word doesn't talk to Excel anymore???????????

I still can't get my percetnages to show up, with or without decimal points.

I feel like I am back in the DOS world of 1985 - learning codes to get
documents to print.

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 20 Dec 2005 04:53 GMT

You may already know this, but see "Formatting Word fields with switches" on
fellow MVP Graham Mayor's website at

http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm

Signature

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

>I have a Word merge document that has worked fine for several years- at
>least
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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ignatious - 20 Dec 2005 14:49 GMT

I looked at it to format the $ fields. Can't get the calculations to work for
% fields.

I just had to gripe about what a sub-standard product MS is putting out.

> You may already know this, but see "Formatting Word fields with switches" on
> fellow MVP Graham Mayor's website at
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
> >
> > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 20 Dec 2005 18:52 GMT

What is wrong about what you are getting for the percent fields? What is
the entry in the datasource? What do you want to be displayed in the
document? What is now being displayed?

Signature

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

>I looked at it to format the $ fields. Can't get the calculations to work
>for
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
>> >
>> > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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ignatious - 20 Dec 2005 21:08 GMT

The entry in my Excel worksheet is a number such as .01 formatted as %.

per gmayor's website, I tried using a formula {={MERGEFIELD rate_}*100 \# #
"0%"} and various permutations thereof. I kept getting the error message "A
field calculation error occurred in record 1".

Without the formula I didn't get the error butr I got an unformatted "0" in
my document.

What I want to get (and what I got when I used Word 2000) is 1.00% or .65%
etc.

> What is wrong about what you are getting for the percent fields? What is
> the entry in the datasource? What do you want to be displayed in the
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
> >> >
> >> > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 20 Dec 2005 21:43 GMT

You have an extra # in your field.construction

It should be { = { MERGEFIELD rate_ } * 100 \# "0%" }

Signature

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

> The entry in my Excel worksheet is a number such as .01 formatted as %.
>
[quoted text clipped - 62 lines]
>> >> >
>> >> > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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ignatious - 20 Dec 2005 22:34 GMT

Sorry, I had a typo in my response. I went back and edited my merge doc to
include your formula as you have it written below and, after receiving the
invalid formla error message, got the formula in my final document instead of
x%.

The mergefield is valid because I can get it to supply a raw number in my
merge doc. My syntax matches yours - I even tried it with spaces in the
formula.

I wish the MS braintrust would leave software that works alone! I'm sorry I
'upgraded' if you want to call software that doesn't work an upgrade.

Thanks for the help.

> You have an extra # in your field.construction
>
[quoted text clipped - 66 lines]
> >> >> >
> >> >> > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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Graham Mayor - 21 Dec 2005 06:44 GMT

Did you insert each pair of field boundaries with CTRL+F9 as mentioned on
the web page?
The software works fine - it's the pilot who doesn't have the necessary
training to fly it!

Signature

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

> Sorry, I had a typo in my response. I went back and edited my merge
> doc to include your formula as you have it written below and, after
[quoted text clipped - 106 lines]
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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ignatious - 23 Dec 2005 22:25 GMT

If I press Ctrl-f9 as suggested, I get {}. Do I have insert my merge field
between them?

The software may work correctly but being able to format a merge field is
common enough that it should be a simple matter if the software was written
well.

> Did you insert each pair of field boundaries with CTRL+F9 as mentioned on
> the web page?
[quoted text clipped - 111 lines]
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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Graham Mayor - 24 Dec 2005 07:43 GMT

Between the two brackets {}
Type =
{=}
then either insert your mergefield or better still, press CTRL+F9 again
{={}}
Between the second pair of brackets type Mergefield followed by your
fieldname exactly as it appears in the insert field dialog
{={Mergefield rate_}}
Finally add the calculation and the formatting switch
{ = { MERGEFIELD rate_ } * 100 \# "0%" }
With the cursor in the field Press F9 to update, and if the display does not
switch back on its own, ALT+F9 will switch it.

Signature

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

> If I press Ctrl-f9 as suggested, I get {}. Do I have insert my merge
> field between them?
[quoted text clipped - 126 lines]
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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ignatious - 29 Dec 2005 22:47 GMT

I tried using alt-f9 to get the brackets in but it still wasn't giving me the
proper result. It turns out, if you use alt-f9 to display codes, it keeps
that setting when you look at the merged doc.

Thanks for the help Graham.

MS did a poor job writing this software. Something like formatting a mail
merge should be more user-friendly. A casual user shouldn't have to probe
about the internet to find how to format raw data. Office 2000 did a good job
of being user-friendly. I am sorry I upgraded to 2003.

> Between the two brackets {}
> Type =
[quoted text clipped - 138 lines]
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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Graham Mayor - 30 Dec 2005 07:50 GMT

You insert the field brackets with CTRL+F9
ALT+F9 is a toggle setting between the field construction and the result.
Press it again!

Signature

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

> I tried using alt-f9 to get the brackets in but it still wasn't
> giving me the proper result. It turns out, if you use alt-f9 to
[quoted text clipped - 158 lines]
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 21 Dec 2005 06:51 GMT

You must be doing something wrong because it works fine for me with Word
2003. In your latest attempt, did you use Ctrl+F9 to insert all of the
field delimiters {}?

Signature

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

> Sorry, I had a typo in my response. I went back and edited my merge doc to
> include your formula as you have it written below and, after receiving the
[quoted text clipped - 92 lines]
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=c1bd0656-d66d-4
6c0-a23e-1115e1381ffa&dg=microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

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