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WORD Mailmerge with Excel DataSource - loss of formatting
Hello, I touched on this subject before but haven't gotten a solution. I am
using Excel and Word 2003 with Win XP Pro. I am using a database that is in Excel and consists of various fields of text, numbers, currency and dates/times. My issue is when I have this data in excel, I've formatted the cells to display the format that I want, i.e. currency/currency, date/date, time/time etc. When I link the mail merge document to the data base, some of these cells display as they are formatted in Excel, some don't. For those that do I've used some switches on the WORD document for specific formatting. The trouble is some of them work great, and the information is exact, others (No matter what switch in WORD is used, no matter if I format it as text in the excel database, etc) give me a single "0". I've tried re-inserting the fields other places and there's no change. This issue is consistent with all my worksheets. I am at wits end and don't have an answer. Is there something that I might be missing to solve this problem, is there a limit on specific data types to use, is there a way to force things? is there a special problem with results of formulas?? OR can anyone think of something that will work. I've got cells with the same kind of data, in the same merge document, showing correct data & my zero's. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Bob Reynolds |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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WORD Mailmerge with Excel DataSource - loss of formatting
Hi Bob,
To recap, previously we discussed two things: a. the formatting, and using DDE to connect to try to solve that problem b. programmatic connection using DDE. Did (a) work? If so, did (b) fail? Or what? (and if possible, why?) Does this have to work for any old spreadsheet, or just specific spreadsheets? If it's specific spreadsheets, do any of them have more than 63 columns? Do all the users who need this solution have Excel on their machines? Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message news:OweXh.10834$vD4.4062@bigfe9... Hello, I touched on this subject before but haven't gotten a solution. I am using Excel and Word 2003 with Win XP Pro. I am using a database that is in Excel and consists of various fields of text, numbers, currency and dates/times. My issue is when I have this data in excel, I've formatted the cells to display the format that I want, i.e. currency/currency, date/date, time/time etc. When I link the mail merge document to the data base, some of these cells display as they are formatted in Excel, some don't. For those that do I've used some switches on the WORD document for specific formatting. The trouble is some of them work great, and the information is exact, others (No matter what switch in WORD is used, no matter if I format it as text in the excel database, etc) give me a single "0". I've tried re-inserting the fields other places and there's no change. This issue is consistent with all my worksheets. I am at wits end and don't have an answer. Is there something that I might be missing to solve this problem, is there a limit on specific data types to use, is there a way to force things? is there a special problem with results of formulas?? OR can anyone think of something that will work. I've got cells with the same kind of data, in the same merge document, showing correct data & my zero's. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Bob Reynolds |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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WORD Mailmerge with Excel DataSource - loss of formatting
Thanks for asking Peter,
the code in the beginning is binding the code over ok with word, and as I said I have all but about 5 or 6 of these that won't work, no matter what. This is a specific spreadsheet and it has a twin in the workbook for more information.. All users have the same version of Excel on their machines... Now for the poss problem if I'm reading you right. The first database has 174 columns and the second one has 186 columns. Is this a problem or where it's at???? Thanks again BOB "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, To recap, previously we discussed two things: a. the formatting, and using DDE to connect to try to solve that problem b. programmatic connection using DDE. Did (a) work? If so, did (b) fail? Or what? (and if possible, why?) Does this have to work for any old spreadsheet, or just specific spreadsheets? If it's specific spreadsheets, do any of them have more than 63 columns? Do all the users who need this solution have Excel on their machines? Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message news:OweXh.10834$vD4.4062@bigfe9... Hello, I touched on this subject before but haven't gotten a solution. I am using Excel and Word 2003 with Win XP Pro. I am using a database that is in Excel and consists of various fields of text, numbers, currency and dates/times. My issue is when I have this data in excel, I've formatted the cells to display the format that I want, i.e. currency/currency, date/date, time/time etc. When I link the mail merge document to the data base, some of these cells display as they are formatted in Excel, some don't. For those that do I've used some switches on the WORD document for specific formatting. The trouble is some of them work great, and the information is exact, others (No matter what switch in WORD is used, no matter if I format it as text in the excel database, etc) give me a single "0". I've tried re-inserting the fields other places and there's no change. This issue is consistent with all my worksheets. I am at wits end and don't have an answer. Is there something that I might be missing to solve this problem, is there a limit on specific data types to use, is there a way to force things? is there a special problem with results of formulas?? OR can anyone think of something that will work. I've got cells with the same kind of data, in the same merge document, showing correct data & my zero's. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Bob Reynolds |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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WORD Mailmerge with Excel DataSource - loss of formatting
Hi Bob,
Now for the poss problem if I'm reading you right. The first database has 174 columns and the second one has 186 columns. Is this a problem or where it's at???? In fact I asked the question because the next thing I was going to suggest was automated cut/paste into a Word table and using that as a data source instead, but the column count makes a difference to how workable that is (Word's table column limit is 63, so any more than that and you have to paste as plain text which means that you will get problems with things like double quotes, multiline text and delimiter dialog boxes) So I hadn't even considered the column count being the /cause/ of the problem. It isn't a problem I've seen before but I never work with that many columns. I suppose the obvious place to start is to experiment by cutting columns from the larger sheet. Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message . .. Thanks for asking Peter, the code in the beginning is binding the code over ok with word, and as I said I have all but about 5 or 6 of these that won't work, no matter what. This is a specific spreadsheet and it has a twin in the workbook for more information.. All users have the same version of Excel on their machines... Now for the poss problem if I'm reading you right. The first database has 174 columns and the second one has 186 columns. Is this a problem or where it's at???? Thanks again BOB "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, To recap, previously we discussed two things: a. the formatting, and using DDE to connect to try to solve that problem b. programmatic connection using DDE. Did (a) work? If so, did (b) fail? Or what? (and if possible, why?) Does this have to work for any old spreadsheet, or just specific spreadsheets? If it's specific spreadsheets, do any of them have more than 63 columns? Do all the users who need this solution have Excel on their machines? Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message news:OweXh.10834$vD4.4062@bigfe9... Hello, I touched on this subject before but haven't gotten a solution. I am using Excel and Word 2003 with Win XP Pro. I am using a database that is in Excel and consists of various fields of text, numbers, currency and dates/times. My issue is when I have this data in excel, I've formatted the cells to display the format that I want, i.e. currency/currency, date/date, time/time etc. When I link the mail merge document to the data base, some of these cells display as they are formatted in Excel, some don't. For those that do I've used some switches on the WORD document for specific formatting. The trouble is some of them work great, and the information is exact, others (No matter what switch in WORD is used, no matter if I format it as text in the excel database, etc) give me a single "0". I've tried re-inserting the fields other places and there's no change. This issue is consistent with all my worksheets. I am at wits end and don't have an answer. Is there something that I might be missing to solve this problem, is there a limit on specific data types to use, is there a way to force things? is there a special problem with results of formulas?? OR can anyone think of something that will work. I've got cells with the same kind of data, in the same merge document, showing correct data & my zero's. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Bob Reynolds |
#5
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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WORD Mailmerge with Excel DataSource - loss of formatting
Thanks Peter,
at any given time only about 15%-25% of either of the database's are being used. I'm just confusted why some are working and others are not. I've gone so far as to remove the column and place the information somewhere else in the database in another column and that didn't work. I got two of the merges to work by 1. removing the field 2. shutting down the excel workbook and then restarting it 3. placing the field back into the database in all caps. I don't seen anything that I did to cause the merge to work, but it did for two of the fields..... that's the frustrating part.. Phase two of the question: Scenario I trigger several word documents to open and find the data source as I've explained before. They are still functioning but I also need to simply open a word document from within excel and not do a merge. So What I'm looking for is a simple little piece of code to trigger in excel and simply open an existing word document (nothing to do with a database) Wouoldn't have an idea would you.. Thanks so much and if I ever find out what's causing this I'll re-post to here for everyone...... Bob Reynolds "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, Now for the poss problem if I'm reading you right. The first database has 174 columns and the second one has 186 columns. Is this a problem or where it's at???? In fact I asked the question because the next thing I was going to suggest was automated cut/paste into a Word table and using that as a data source instead, but the column count makes a difference to how workable that is (Word's table column limit is 63, so any more than that and you have to paste as plain text which means that you will get problems with things like double quotes, multiline text and delimiter dialog boxes) So I hadn't even considered the column count being the /cause/ of the problem. It isn't a problem I've seen before but I never work with that many columns. I suppose the obvious place to start is to experiment by cutting columns from the larger sheet. Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message . .. Thanks for asking Peter, the code in the beginning is binding the code over ok with word, and as I said I have all but about 5 or 6 of these that won't work, no matter what. This is a specific spreadsheet and it has a twin in the workbook for more information.. All users have the same version of Excel on their machines... Now for the poss problem if I'm reading you right. The first database has 174 columns and the second one has 186 columns. Is this a problem or where it's at???? Thanks again BOB "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, To recap, previously we discussed two things: a. the formatting, and using DDE to connect to try to solve that problem b. programmatic connection using DDE. Did (a) work? If so, did (b) fail? Or what? (and if possible, why?) Does this have to work for any old spreadsheet, or just specific spreadsheets? If it's specific spreadsheets, do any of them have more than 63 columns? Do all the users who need this solution have Excel on their machines? Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message news:OweXh.10834$vD4.4062@bigfe9... Hello, I touched on this subject before but haven't gotten a solution. I am using Excel and Word 2003 with Win XP Pro. I am using a database that is in Excel and consists of various fields of text, numbers, currency and dates/times. My issue is when I have this data in excel, I've formatted the cells to display the format that I want, i.e. currency/currency, date/date, time/time etc. When I link the mail merge document to the data base, some of these cells display as they are formatted in Excel, some don't. For those that do I've used some switches on the WORD document for specific formatting. The trouble is some of them work great, and the information is exact, others (No matter what switch in WORD is used, no matter if I format it as text in the excel database, etc) give me a single "0". I've tried re-inserting the fields other places and there's no change. This issue is consistent with all my worksheets. I am at wits end and don't have an answer. Is there something that I might be missing to solve this problem, is there a limit on specific data types to use, is there a way to force things? is there a special problem with results of formulas?? OR can anyone think of something that will work. I've got cells with the same kind of data, in the same merge document, showing correct data & my zero's. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Bob Reynolds |
#6
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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WORD Mailmerge with Excel DataSource - loss of formatting
Hi Bob,
Yes, it is sometimes difficult to see any pattern in situations like this, particularly with a product like Excel where the formatting of a cell may affect how Word sees the data. So What I'm looking for is a simple little piece of code to trigger in excel and simply open an existing word document (nothing to do with a database) Wouoldn't have an idea would you.. There's an example at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/InterDev/C...WordFromXL.htm . Derived from that you need something like the following (not tested). Sub ControlWordFromXL() Dim bWordWasNotRunning As Boolean Dim objWord As Word.Application Dim objDoc As Word.Document 'Get existing instance of Word if it's open; otherwise create a new one On Error Resume Next Set objWord = GetObject(, "Word.Application") If Err Then Set objWord = New Word.Application bWordWasNotRunning = True End If On Error GoTo Err_Handler objWord.Visible = True objWord.Activate Set objDoc = objWord.Documents.Open _ Name:="the full path name of the .doc you want to open" Set objWord = Nothing Set objDoc = Nothing 'quit Exit Sub Err_Handler: MsgBox "Word caused a problem. " & Err.Description, vbCritical, "Error: " _ & Err.Number If bWordWasNotRunning Then objWord.Quit End If End Sub "BobR" wrote in message ... Thanks Peter, at any given time only about 15%-25% of either of the database's are being used. I'm just confusted why some are working and others are not. I've gone so far as to remove the column and place the information somewhere else in the database in another column and that didn't work. I got two of the merges to work by 1. removing the field 2. shutting down the excel workbook and then restarting it 3. placing the field back into the database in all caps. I don't seen anything that I did to cause the merge to work, but it did for two of the fields..... that's the frustrating part.. Phase two of the question: Scenario I trigger several word documents to open and find the data source as I've explained before. They are still functioning but I also need to simply open a word document from within excel and not do a merge. So What I'm looking for is a simple little piece of code to trigger in excel and simply open an existing word document (nothing to do with a database) Wouoldn't have an idea would you.. Thanks so much and if I ever find out what's causing this I'll re-post to here for everyone...... Bob Reynolds "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, Now for the poss problem if I'm reading you right. The first database has 174 columns and the second one has 186 columns. Is this a problem or where it's at???? In fact I asked the question because the next thing I was going to suggest was automated cut/paste into a Word table and using that as a data source instead, but the column count makes a difference to how workable that is (Word's table column limit is 63, so any more than that and you have to paste as plain text which means that you will get problems with things like double quotes, multiline text and delimiter dialog boxes) So I hadn't even considered the column count being the /cause/ of the problem. It isn't a problem I've seen before but I never work with that many columns. I suppose the obvious place to start is to experiment by cutting columns from the larger sheet. Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message . .. Thanks for asking Peter, the code in the beginning is binding the code over ok with word, and as I said I have all but about 5 or 6 of these that won't work, no matter what. This is a specific spreadsheet and it has a twin in the workbook for more information.. All users have the same version of Excel on their machines... Now for the poss problem if I'm reading you right. The first database has 174 columns and the second one has 186 columns. Is this a problem or where it's at???? Thanks again BOB "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, To recap, previously we discussed two things: a. the formatting, and using DDE to connect to try to solve that problem b. programmatic connection using DDE. Did (a) work? If so, did (b) fail? Or what? (and if possible, why?) Does this have to work for any old spreadsheet, or just specific spreadsheets? If it's specific spreadsheets, do any of them have more than 63 columns? Do all the users who need this solution have Excel on their machines? Peter Jamieson "LabrGuy Bob R" wrote in message news:OweXh.10834$vD4.4062@bigfe9... Hello, I touched on this subject before but haven't gotten a solution. I am using Excel and Word 2003 with Win XP Pro. I am using a database that is in Excel and consists of various fields of text, numbers, currency and dates/times. My issue is when I have this data in excel, I've formatted the cells to display the format that I want, i.e. currency/currency, date/date, time/time etc. When I link the mail merge document to the data base, some of these cells display as they are formatted in Excel, some don't. For those that do I've used some switches on the WORD document for specific formatting. The trouble is some of them work great, and the information is exact, others (No matter what switch in WORD is used, no matter if I format it as text in the excel database, etc) give me a single "0". I've tried re-inserting the fields other places and there's no change. This issue is consistent with all my worksheets. I am at wits end and don't have an answer. Is there something that I might be missing to solve this problem, is there a limit on specific data types to use, is there a way to force things? is there a special problem with results of formulas?? OR can anyone think of something that will work. I've got cells with the same kind of data, in the same merge document, showing correct data & my zero's. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Bob Reynolds |
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