[Jesse[_3_]]

Thank you all for the help. Among other things, I learned about using
a comma in the switch. And, I now see that I was missing quote marks
around the format "picture", though formatting still works without the
quotes - sometimes.

And, http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm is great.

With some more testing, I found that the "problem" - what causes the
"default" $ sign usage in the mail merge - comes from the data type in
the Access table. The data type is carried over, but the data field
properties are not. So a field that is set in Access to currency type
and to show there w/o $ is received by Word merely as a currency
number -- and so assumes that $ should be added. And, an Access
"number" type that has ".00" is truncated (by default) in Word -- so
"15.00" becomes "15" while "14.95" yields "14.95".

Peter, thanks for the a-b-c anecdotes -- there seems to be something
going on that may just be unknowable. And, it is good for me to see
that I am not the only one who writes in one message two paragraphs
that begin, "Finally..."

Again, thanks all. -- Jesse