Controlling Format of Merge Fields

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Neil Trotter - 22 Dec 2005 20:18 GMT

I'm working in Word 2002 with a document composed by Someone Else, and
using an Excel 5.0 format datasource.

I have 2 merge fields which are giving me problems. One is displaying
in the Courier font (the rest of the document is in Times NR), and the
other is displaying bold where I do not want it to. I have had similar
problems with font size and italicizing.

I have tried removing and re-inserting the merge fields in question, and
highlighting them (pre-merge, i.e. the field names inside chevrons) and
applying the format required .... "Reveal Formatting" confirms that my
merge field is formatted as intended. However, when I view the actual
data, it is not displayed in the correct format.

Has something in the document been "locked" so that I cannot control
formatting?

How can I gain control of this?

Thanks for any hints!

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Neil
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GTS - 22 Dec 2005 23:24 GMT

> I'm working in Word 2002 with a document composed by Someone Else, and
> using an Excel 5.0 format datasource.
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> Thanks for any hints!

I would look at the styles in the document - (FORMAT - STYLES AND
FORMATTING) as usually this is due to a customised or modified style -
although you are applying formatting to the field pre-merge, if the style
being used in that paragraph such as normal or bodytext is set to Courier
then it will use that.
Alternatively try using \*Charformat format field switch instead of
\*Mergeformat, as in
{MERGEFIELD WHATEVER\*Charformat}
" Applies the formatting of the first letter of the field type to the entire
result"
Graham

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Neil Trotter - 23 Dec 2005 20:26 GMT

In article <pAGqf.22584$Dg6.20446@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net>, GTS said:

> I would look at the styles in the document - (FORMAT - STYLES AND
> FORMATTING) as usually this is due to a customised or modified style -
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> " Applies the formatting of the first letter of the field type to the entire
> result"

Examining the Styles & Formatting didn't shed any light on the problem,
but \*Charformat did the trick in all cases.

So many thanks for the excellent answer, Graham!

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Neil
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http://www.and-world.com

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