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#1
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Strange behaviour of date fields in Excel-Word mailmerge
I am using Office 2003 Enterprise with SP2 and latest patches.
I created a spreadsheet used for laptop inventory that has plain old text fields, some date fields, and some calculated date fields (=IF(ISBLANK(Q2),"",+Q2+60)). I then created a document in Word to print using the fields from Excel. Problem is, I'm getting some squirrely problems with the embedded fields: 1. If a date field (entered, not calculated) is empty, SOMETIMES it shows up in Word as 12:00AM, sometimes it's blank (as I'd want it, if the spreadsheet cell is blank). This is also showing up in the Recipient window (the one that shows the spreadsheet data). I've verified that the spreadsheet cells REALLY are blank. 2. Sometimes, the date fields show up as a large number, rather than a date--I'm thinking that this may be the days (hours?) since 1/1/1900, or something), sometimes not. 3. One date field (Date_Due) would not let me Toggle Fields. I can Toggle the one way (so that you get the MERGEFIELD), but, when toggling back (I'm right-clicking on the field), it brings up the SpellCheck menu. The other fields work fine. Interestingly...I copied the form and spreadsheet, emailed them to myself at home, and, am sitting at home, VPN'd in, with both copies open, and, the one at Work has this problem, the one at home doesn't. I see NO differences between setups. I THOUGHT this was going to be simple, but, these variances in behavior are making things take longer and not be successfull. Thanks. |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Strange behaviour of date fields in Excel-Word mailmerge
Your problems may be overcome by selecting Options from the Tools menu in
Word and then go to the General tab and check the box against the "Confirm conversions at open" item. Then when you attach the data source to the mail merge main document, select the DDE option. -- 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 "Bill Bradley" wrote in message ... I am using Office 2003 Enterprise with SP2 and latest patches. I created a spreadsheet used for laptop inventory that has plain old text fields, some date fields, and some calculated date fields (=IF(ISBLANK(Q2),"",+Q2+60)). I then created a document in Word to print using the fields from Excel. Problem is, I'm getting some squirrely problems with the embedded fields: 1. If a date field (entered, not calculated) is empty, SOMETIMES it shows up in Word as 12:00AM, sometimes it's blank (as I'd want it, if the spreadsheet cell is blank). This is also showing up in the Recipient window (the one that shows the spreadsheet data). I've verified that the spreadsheet cells REALLY are blank. 2. Sometimes, the date fields show up as a large number, rather than a date--I'm thinking that this may be the days (hours?) since 1/1/1900, or something), sometimes not. 3. One date field (Date_Due) would not let me Toggle Fields. I can Toggle the one way (so that you get the MERGEFIELD), but, when toggling back (I'm right-clicking on the field), it brings up the SpellCheck menu. The other fields work fine. Interestingly...I copied the form and spreadsheet, emailed them to myself at home, and, am sitting at home, VPN'd in, with both copies open, and, the one at Work has this problem, the one at home doesn't. I see NO differences between setups. I THOUGHT this was going to be simple, but, these variances in behavior are making things take longer and not be successfull. Thanks. |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Strange behaviour of date fields in Excel-Word mailmerge
Thanks, Doug, that was EXACTLY what the problem was. Should be put in the
Help... Thanks! "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: Your problems may be overcome by selecting Options from the Tools menu in Word and then go to the General tab and check the box against the "Confirm conversions at open" item. Then when you attach the data source to the mail merge main document, select the DDE option. -- 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 "Bill Bradley" wrote in message ... I am using Office 2003 Enterprise with SP2 and latest patches. I created a spreadsheet used for laptop inventory that has plain old text fields, some date fields, and some calculated date fields (=IF(ISBLANK(Q2),"",+Q2+60)). I then created a document in Word to print using the fields from Excel. Problem is, I'm getting some squirrely problems with the embedded fields: 1. If a date field (entered, not calculated) is empty, SOMETIMES it shows up in Word as 12:00AM, sometimes it's blank (as I'd want it, if the spreadsheet cell is blank). This is also showing up in the Recipient window (the one that shows the spreadsheet data). I've verified that the spreadsheet cells REALLY are blank. 2. Sometimes, the date fields show up as a large number, rather than a date--I'm thinking that this may be the days (hours?) since 1/1/1900, or something), sometimes not. 3. One date field (Date_Due) would not let me Toggle Fields. I can Toggle the one way (so that you get the MERGEFIELD), but, when toggling back (I'm right-clicking on the field), it brings up the SpellCheck menu. The other fields work fine. Interestingly...I copied the form and spreadsheet, emailed them to myself at home, and, am sitting at home, VPN'd in, with both copies open, and, the one at Work has this problem, the one at home doesn't. I see NO differences between setups. I THOUGHT this was going to be simple, but, these variances in behavior are making things take longer and not be successfull. Thanks. |
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