Mail Merge does not see date fields as blank

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Connie - 29 Oct 2003 00:14 GMT

When doing a Mail Merge in Word 2002 using either an
Access 2002 file or an Excel 2002 file, the "empty" date
fields in the data sources are seen as 12:00:00 A.M. in
the mail merge rather than as null.
I have tested the files on 5 computers. I had no
problem on 2 of the computers using Office XP and on two
computers using Office 2003.
However, the problem does occur on two other computers
with Office XP. One of the problem computers has Windows
98, the other one has Windows XP, as do the other 3
computers I tested on that had no problems.
The fields appear blank when opened in Access or Excel.
On the problem computers, I created new Access and
Excel data sources and merged into a new Word file.
The "empty" date fields appeared as 12:00:00 A.M. again.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP - 29 Oct 2003 10:41 GMT

Hi Connie,

Use and If..Then.. Else field to test for 12:00:00 A.M. and insert nothing
it that is what the field contains or insert the field if it contains
something else. That should work for all versions.

Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

> When doing a Mail Merge in Word 2002 using either an
> Access 2002 file or an Excel 2002 file, the "empty" date
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> The "empty" date fields appeared as 12:00:00 A.M. again.
> Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Reply to this Message

Cindy M -WordMVP- - 29 Oct 2003 16:58 GMT

Hi Connie,

The problem is likely due to the connection method being
used to Excel. I'm guessing that it's DDE on the computers
not showing the problem, and probably the new default OLE DB
on the other machines.

Doug has shown you how you can use a formatting switch in
the merge field to change the display. Other approaches
would be
- change the connection method
- use a query in Access to pre-format the data

You'll find instructions for both on the Mail Merge FAQ on
my website. Start with the section on Word 2002.

> When doing a Mail Merge in Word 2002 using either an
> Access 2002 file or an Excel 2002 file, the "empty" date
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> However, the problem does occur on two other computers
> with Office XP.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any
follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

:-)

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