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Ann Scharpf
 
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Default Extra digits in merge from Excel (Office 2003)

I am creating a mail merge using an Excel file and am having the problem that
other users have reported with extra digits after the decimal point.
However, some of the things I'm seeing do not jibe with what I've read in
these posts. I will use two numbers in the Excel file as examples throughout.

I should mention that I did refer to
http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm and tried that method. Here
is what I am seeing:

In the regular Office 2003 mail merge, where Word is expected to format the
numbers, I am getting these two numbers:
67006.740000000005
33000

(One thing that is really strange about the first number is that, if I go to
the Excel spreadsheet and keep clicking the "Increase decimal" button, that
"5" digit at the end of the first number NEVER appears. I can go out to 100
significant digits and they are all zeroes following the "74".)

The first thing I tried was to add another column to the spreadsheet with
the function ROUND(C2,2). When I tried the merge again, merge dialog box
showed the column with my rounded numbers exactly matching the unrounded ones:
67006.740000000005
33000

So, then I came here and tried the gmayor.com instructions. When I changed
the Tools Options to prompt me to confirm the conversion at open, I got
this:

Regular (Unrounded) column:
67006.740000000000000000000000000000000000 (34 zeroes)
33000.000000000000000000000000000000000000 (36 zeroes)

Rounded column:
67006.74
33000.00

It seems the only way to get the numbers that I am looking for is to:
1. Round the numbers, AND
2. Use the DDE conversion

Is there something that I am missing? I am trying to figure this out for a
bunch of people who are NOT advanced Word users, so I'd appreciate any
information you can give me to simplify the steps / explanation. Thanks for
any help you can give me.