A Microsoft Office (Excel, Word) forum. OfficeFrustration

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » OfficeFrustration forum » Microsoft Word » Mailmerge
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read  

date format in mailmerge



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old June 17th, 2009, 12:18 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
cacuk
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default date format in mailmerge

I am using a template with data from Excel in dd/mmm/yy format but
when it puts it on mail merge it is changing it to yy/dd/mm

My system is seet to English UK but still keeps changing it to USA
date format

How can I change this? 2003 worked fine!
  #2  
Old June 17th, 2009, 01:00 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
macropod[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default date format in mailmerge

Hi cacuk,

To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch. In Word:
.. select the mergefield;
.. press Shift-F9 to expose the field coding. It should look something like {MERGEFIELD MyDate} where 'MyDate' is your mergefield's
name;
.. delete anything appearing after the mergefield's name and add '\@ "d MMMM yyyy"' to the field, as in {MERGEFIELD MyDate \@ "d MMMM
yyyy"}. With this switch your dates will come out like '17 June 2009'. Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: Note: you can swap the d, M, y expressions around, but you must use uppercase 'M's for months.
.. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
.. run your mailmerge.


--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]
PS: I think you've mixed up something in your post about the date formats - yy/mm/dd isn't the US date format (it's mm/dd/yy).

"cacuk" wrote in message ...
I am using a template with data from Excel in dd/mmm/yy format but
when it puts it on mail merge it is changing it to yy/dd/mm

My system is seet to English UK but still keeps changing it to USA
date format

How can I change this? 2003 worked fine!


  #3  
Old June 17th, 2009, 06:19 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
scoop
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 19
Default date format in mailmerge

I am having a similar problem. My field is called 'Date' If I insert the
field into word in the normal way it appears formatted mm/dd/yy. I have one
record for each date of the month of June in my Excel Data Source. When I
page through the word document, each date changes as you would expect.

If I change the Date format something like ddd dd-mmm-yyyy every record in
the Word document defaults to todays date. Every record always keeps todays
date whichever format I use. The only way I can get the date to change like
it should, is if I dono format it and leave it as and Inserted field, but I
am left with a format, mm/dd/yy, that nobody wants

I'm confused.

Iam sure I am making a basic error, however, the Excel spreadsheet looks
fine ?? I even made a totally nesw sample Excel datasource, and balnk word
document to test, but get the ssame result. Every record has todays date,
unless I leave the field as an insert with the default date formatting.

Can any one help

Thanks

"macropod" wrote:

Hi cacuk,

To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch. In Word:
.. select the mergefield;
.. press Shift-F9 to expose the field coding. It should look something like {MERGEFIELD MyDate} where 'MyDate' is your mergefield's
name;
.. delete anything appearing after the mergefield's name and add '\@ "d MMMM yyyy"' to the field, as in {MERGEFIELD MyDate \@ "d MMMM
yyyy"}. With this switch your dates will come out like '17 June 2009'. Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: Note: you can swap the d, M, y expressions around, but you must use uppercase 'M's for months.
.. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
.. run your mailmerge.


--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]
PS: I think you've mixed up something in your post about the date formats - yy/mm/dd isn't the US date format (it's mm/dd/yy).

"cacuk" wrote in message ...
I am using a template with data from Excel in dd/mmm/yy format but
when it puts it on mail merge it is changing it to yy/dd/mm

My system is seet to English UK but still keeps changing it to USA
date format

How can I change this? 2003 worked fine!



  #4  
Old June 17th, 2009, 09:13 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
Doug Robbins - Word MVP
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8,239
Default date format in mailmerge

Are you sure that when you display the field codes (Alt+F9) that you have:

{ MERGEFIELD Date \@ "ddd, d MMM yyyy" }

That certainly returns the data from the data source and not the today's
date here.

--
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, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com
"Scoop" wrote in message
...
I am having a similar problem. My field is called 'Date' If I insert the
field into word in the normal way it appears formatted mm/dd/yy. I have
one
record for each date of the month of June in my Excel Data Source. When I
page through the word document, each date changes as you would expect.

If I change the Date format something like ddd dd-mmm-yyyy every record
in
the Word document defaults to todays date. Every record always keeps
todays
date whichever format I use. The only way I can get the date to change
like
it should, is if I dono format it and leave it as and Inserted field, but
I
am left with a format, mm/dd/yy, that nobody wants

I'm confused.

Iam sure I am making a basic error, however, the Excel spreadsheet looks
fine ?? I even made a totally nesw sample Excel datasource, and balnk word
document to test, but get the ssame result. Every record has todays date,
unless I leave the field as an insert with the default date formatting.

Can any one help

Thanks

"macropod" wrote:

Hi cacuk,

To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch.
In Word:
.. select the mergefield;
.. press Shift-F9 to expose the field coding. It should look something
like {MERGEFIELD MyDate} where 'MyDate' is your mergefield's
name;
.. delete anything appearing after the mergefield's name and add '\@ "d
MMMM yyyy"' to the field, as in {MERGEFIELD MyDate \@ "d MMMM
yyyy"}. With this switch your dates will come out like '17 June 2009'.
Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: Note: you can swap the d, M, y expressions around, but you must
use uppercase 'M's for months.
.. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
.. run your mailmerge.


--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]
PS: I think you've mixed up something in your post about the date
formats - yy/mm/dd isn't the US date format (it's mm/dd/yy).

"cacuk" wrote in message
...
I am using a template with data from Excel in dd/mmm/yy format but
when it puts it on mail merge it is changing it to yy/dd/mm

My system is seet to English UK but still keeps changing it to USA
date format

How can I change this? 2003 worked fine!




 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:59 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 OfficeFrustration.
The comments are property of their posters.