Hi,

I'm using Office 2003 and have, what I hope to be, a simple question.

My data is in an Excel file. I have a list of ssn numbers with a "special"
format selected to display them correctly. i.e. 123456789 is displayed as
123-45-6789.

When I do the mail merge into Word it looses this formatting, I'm assuming
because word sees it as a number and not text?

Is there a way around this or do I have to update all my ssn numbers in
excel to text? If I just change the format to text, then I'll loose the
"-". I rather not re-type everything.

Thanks,

Lisa

Three things you can try:
a. as you suggest, change the data format to text and re-enter the data, or
transform the data you have into a format containing the "-" characters. I
suspect this is likely to be the best bet longer term.
b. connect to the data source using DDE - this requires that you have
\Excel on your system. Check Word Tools|Options|General|Confirm conversions
at open, then go through the connection process again and select the DDE
option when offered. This is the way Word used to connect by default in Word
2000 and earlier.
c. try using a numeric format switch in Word. This will only work if
- the number format is very consistent
- the number of digits is not too large

e.g. instead of

{ MERGEFIELD ssn }

try

{ MERGEFIELD ssn \#"000'-'00'-'0000" }

Peter Jamieson
"Lisa" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm using Office 2003 and have, what I hope to be, a simple question.

My data is in an Excel file. I have a list of ssn numbers with a
"special" format selected to display them correctly. i.e. 123456789 is
displayed as 123-45-6789.

When I do the mail merge into Word it looses this formatting, I'm assuming
because word sees it as a number and not text?

Is there a way around this or do I have to update all my ssn numbers in
excel to text? If I just change the format to text, then I'll loose the
"-". I rather not re-type everything.

Thanks,

Lisa

H Peter,

I tried the DDE and it worked great.

Thanks!

Lisa


"Peter Jamieson" wrote in message
...
Three things you can try:
a. as you suggest, change the data format to text and re-enter the data,
or transform the data you have into a format containing the "-"
characters. I suspect this is likely to be the best bet longer term.
b. connect to the data source using DDE - this requires that you have
\Excel on your system. Check Word Tools|Options|General|Confirm
conversions at open, then go through the connection process again and
select the DDE option when offered. This is the way Word used to connect
by default in Word 2000 and earlier.
c. try using a numeric format switch in Word. This will only work if
- the number format is very consistent
- the number of digits is not too large

e.g. instead of

{ MERGEFIELD ssn }

try

{ MERGEFIELD ssn \#"000'-'00'-'0000" }

Peter Jamieson
"Lisa" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm using Office 2003 and have, what I hope to be, a simple question.

My data is in an Excel file. I have a list of ssn numbers with a
"special" format selected to display them correctly. i.e. 123456789 is
displayed as 123-45-6789.

When I do the mail merge into Word it looses this formatting, I'm
assuming because word sees it as a number and not text?

Is there a way around this or do I have to update all my ssn numbers in
excel to text? If I just change the format to text, then I'll loose the
"-". I rather not re-type everything.

Thanks,

Lisa