How to keep leading spaces?

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Lee Harris - 19 Feb 2006 13:32 GMT

I've gone to a lot of trouble formatting a series of strings that look like

xx/xx/xx

where xx is a number (these aren't dates)

and adding spaces so that the length of the string is always 8 characters,
then using a fixed width font with mail merge so that all the columns lineup

however, when I insert the fields, it seems Word is ignoring any leading
spaces even if I specifically set the Excel data as text (and also with a
preceding ' character it still doesn't work)

how can I tell Word that when an Excel field is [space]7/11/29, I want it
printing with the space and not just as 7/11/29

many thanks if anyone knows

cheers,
lee

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Graham Mayor - 19 Feb 2006 15:43 GMT

You will find it a lot easier to make it 07/11/29 by using a formatting
switch

eg {Mergefield fieldname \@ "MM/dd/yy"}
or
{Mergefield fieldname \@ "dd/MM/yy"}
as appropriate for your location.

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

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

> I've gone to a lot of trouble formatting a series of strings that
> look like
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> cheers,
> lee

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Lee Harris - 19 Feb 2006 15:50 GMT

> You will find it a lot easier to make it 07/11/29 by using a formatting
> switch

07/11/29 won't be correct though, I need [space]7/11/29

thanks anyway

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Lee Harris - 19 Feb 2006 15:51 GMT

> You will find it a lot easier to make it 07/11/29 by using a formatting
> switch
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> {Mergefield fieldname \@ "dd/MM/yy"}
> as appropriate for your location.

ps
its not a date/date format

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Graham Mayor - 20 Feb 2006 06:49 GMT

I spotted that just as I clicked 'send'. Did you seet my later post?

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

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

>> You will find it a lot easier to make it 07/11/29 by using a
>> formatting switch
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> ps
> its not a date/date format

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Graham Mayor - 19 Feb 2006 15:52 GMT

Oops - I just spotted that the numbers were not dates (not that it should
matter if they look like dates).
The simple alternative is to use a decimal tab set at the position of the
first '/'.
the numbers will then line up on the slash position.

Signature

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

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

> I've gone to a lot of trouble formatting a series of strings that
> look like
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> cheers,
> lee

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