How to Fix Mail-Merge Number Formatting in Word 2010
By Rich Malloy, Tech Help Today, June 2012, updated Nov. 2012
When 93.90
turns into
93.90000000006,
there are no less
than three ways
to put things
right.
The Mail-Merge feature of Microsoft Word is one of my favorite
parts of the program. It is extremely powerful for creating labels
and customized letters, emails, or reports. Once you learn how to
use it, you can save countless hours of work. Unfortunately, the
task of learning to master all of its idiosyncrasies can give you
countless headaches.
One of the perennial annoyances of Mail-Merge is its inability to
format numbers from an Excel spreadsheet correctly. For
example, a sales result in Excel appears as 93.90 but in Word it
suddenly becomes 93.900000000000006!
Fortunately, there is a way to fix this. In fact, there are three ways.
We can modify the spreadsheet, modify the Mail-Merge
document, or simply modify the way the two files connect to each
other. Although this last approach is little known, for many users
it is certainly the best.
Note for users of Office 2007 and Office 2003: The steps presented here are for Office 2010, but
the steps needed for older versions of Word and Excel are very similar if not identical.
1. Modify the Excel Spreadsheet
The first way is to avoid the problem: In the Excel worksheet, insert a column with a formula
that converts the Excel numbers or dates into a text format that is exactly the same as what you
would want to appear in your Mail-Merge document.
To do this, you need to use Excel’s TEXT() function, which enables you to convert a number or
date into its equivalent text formatted exactly the way you desire. The downside is that you need
to know certain formatting codes. Although these codes are identical to those used in the Custom
Number formatting feature of Excel, they are rarely seen by most Excel users.
For example, the formulas TEXT(B3, "$#,##0.00") and TEXT(C5, "M/dd/yy") convert number and
date data into text data (in this case, “$12,345.67” and “12/01/10”).
(Tip: While you are in Excel, set these formulas in a different style, say, italic, or some unusual
color to remind you that these numbers are simply text. They cannot be used in calculations.)
The advantage of formatting numbers and dates as text is that text is transported from Excel into
a Word Mail-Merge document unmolested. Well, almost unmolested. Formatting options such as
font, size, and color do not make the trip.
Rich Malloy is owner / chief consultant at Tech Help Today, a computer-consulting
service based in Greenwich, CT. A seasoned veteran of the computer industry, Rich
provides high-quality on-site assistance for a vast array of computer problems afflicting
residential and small-business clients in Fairfield and Westchester Counties. In his spare
time, he teaches as a part-time professor. Contact him at www.techhelptoday.com.
How to Fix Number Formatting in Mail Merge
Format Codes for Excel’s TEXT() Function
A collection of the most commonly used codes is presented
below. A key thing to remember is that “0” signifies a digit
that will always appear even if zero, while “#” specifies a digit
that will appear only if it is not a leading or trailing zero.
Thus, the code “00000” will ensure that the leading zero is not
truncated from New Jersey postal zip codes.
Formatting Codes for the
Excel TEXT() Function
Code
00.00
Sample
Result
01.10
#,##0.##
These codes for numbers, dates, and times can be used in the
TEXT function or in Excel’s Custom number formats. As an
extra bonus, they can also be used in the “Numeric Switches”
in Word Mail-Merge Fields described in the next section.
D or d
Unfortunately, there is a slight difference between the way
these codes work in Excel and Word in Microsoft Office
2010. In Excel, you can use either “M” or “m” for months or
minutes. In almost all cases, Excel is smart enough to figure
out which units you are talking about. But Word is not so
smart, and you must use the capitalized letter to refer to
months. Also, Excel has an additional code, “MMMMM”,
which returns a single letter abbreviation for the month (e.g.,
“J, F, M, A, …”).
M
1.1
1
DD or dd
01
DDD or ddd
DDDD or
dddd
Tue
Tuesday
1
MM
01
MMM
MMMM
Jan
January
YY or yy
YYYY or yyyy
99
1999
H or h
1
HH or hh
01
M
1
Supplementing a spreadsheet table with a few TEXT()
Mm
01
functions is a simple and direct approach. If you are using
more than one or two these functions, however, your
S or s
1
spreadsheet soon becomes cluttered with seemingly redundant
SS or ss
01
columns. Analyzing the spreadsheet becomes impossible, and
H
23
there is great likelihood that you will mistakenly use a
h am/pm
11 PM
TEXT() function as input for a calculation, thereby yielding
nonsense results. Our advice here is to put all your TEXT() functions on another worksheet,
entitled something like “Data for Mail Merge.”
Handle with Care: The ROUND() Function
Instead of the TEXT() function, some users prefer to use the ROUND() function to trim off extra
decimal places. As its name implies, Excel’s ROUND() function will permanently round a
number up or down to the number of decimal places you specify. The advantage is that the
rounded number is not text and can still be used for further calculations. In many cases, the
ROUND() function will work well with Mail Merge, but you may want to steer clear of it
because of the following reasons:
1. The Round() function will not preserve the dollar sign or the thousands separator
(comma)
2. The Round() function will truncate trailing zeros
3. The Round() function sometimes causes MailMerge to display the wrong number of
decimal places. For example, a MailMerge document occasionally shows 4 decimal
places when the Round() function had specified 2 or 3.
Rich Malloy, www.techhelptoday.com
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How to Fix Number Formatting in Mail Merge
4. In rare cases, the Round() function causes MailMerge showed a slightly different number.
For example, instead of displaying 1.0014, MailMerge showed 1.0013.
2. Use a “Numeric Switch” in Word
The second way to cajole Mail Merge into displaying numbers from Excel correctly is to modify
the Word document. Specifically, this means applying the desired number format code to the
Merge Fields in the Word document. (The merge fields basically tell the Word document which
column in the Excel table has the desired data.) To apply a format to a field, you must include a
numeric switch (formerly called a picture switch) in the field’s field code.
The first thing you have to do is to see the actual field code. Open the Mail-Merge document and
click the Mailings tab at the top of the window. Be sure the Preview Results button is toggled off
so that you can see the Mail-Merge fields. Then right-click a Mail-Merge field (such as
«Donation») and choose the Toggle Field Code option. You should now see the actual field code
for that field, which is designated by curly braces as in { MERGEFIELD Donation }. Now edit the
field code by simply inserting a numeric switch code to the end of the field code, as in
{ MERGEFIELD Donation \# $#,##0.00 }
There are many picture codes available. Here are three examples and their results:
{
{
{
{
MERGEFIELD
MERGEFIELD
MERGEFIELD
MERGEFIELD
Cost \# 00.00 }
Sales \# $### }
Sales \# $#,##0.00 }
Date \@ "MMMM d" }
01.00
$ 15
$ 1,500.00
November 26
As you can see, the numeric switch codes are identical to the Excel formatting codes except that
they are preceded by “\#” for numbers and “\@” for dates. To see more of the codes available,
refer to the table above, or see the online help for “numeric switch” in Word 2010.
Here are some examples of how the numeric field codes work with data in a column labeled
Sales in an Excel spreadsheet.
Numeric Switches for Mail-Merge MergeFields
Excel Data
Field Code
Word
Result
12345.2345
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# $#,##0.00 }
$12,345.23
-12345.2345
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# $#,##0.00 }
$-12,345.23
12345.2345
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# $,#,##0.00 }
5.67
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# 0,000 }
5.67
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# 0.## }
5.67
5
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# 0.## }
5.
5
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# 0.00 }
5.00
0.67
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# 0.## }
0.67
0.67
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# #.## }
.67
12345.2345
{ MERGEFIELD
Sales \# # ##0.00 }
Rich Malloy, www.techhelptoday.com
$12,345.23
0,006
12 345.23
Page 3 of 5
How to Fix Number Formatting in Mail Merge
In light of the fact that Word and Excel use the same formatting codes, we could not help
wondering why they don’t use the same function format. For example, why not have the
MergeField function look something like:
{ MERGEFIELD(Donation,"$#,##0.00") }
Good question. You’ll have to ask Microsoft.
Note: Before you start cursing me out, try to remember that when you add or change a numeric
switch, the effect is not shown immediately. You either have to update the field (right-click it
and choose Update Field), or click the button Mailings > Preview Results 2 or 3 times, or if you
are using the Mail-Merge Wizard, you will have to go back a step and return to see the effect of
your changes. (I am not making this up. Remember, only geniuses work at Microsoft. We are
just not smart enough to appreciate their brilliance.)
The numeric switches in merge fields work well, but I find the process very difficult to
remember. (“Is it a forward slash or a back slash?”) Also, it is very easy to make a mistake.
Fortunately, there is another way.
3. Use a DDE Link
The above approaches are relatively simple, but if you have more than a few fields that require
formatting, they can drive you into early retirement. At the very least, they require you to
remember format codes that, while similar, are used in very different ways.
A much more elegant and simple solution is to have Word link to the Excel workbook via a DDE
(Dynamic Data Exchange) link rather than the usual, presumably non-dynamic, linking process.
That sounds a little daunting, but if you can do Mail-Merge, then DDE is a piece of cake. It is a
simple two-step process, and the first step – enabling Word to open a file via DDE – has to be
done only once.
To set up Word 2010 for DDE links, do the following:



Click File > Options.
Click the Advanced tab on the left and scroll down to the section General.
Check the box labeled Confirm file format conversion on open.
That’s all for the first step, and you never have to do it again. From now on, your copy of Word
can open up many different types of files, and can open these by different avenues, including
DDE. The only side effect of the above is that every time you open a non-Word file with Word,
the program will give you a chance to change your
mind. No problem.
The second and last step has to be done each time you
select a data source for your Mail-Merge operation
(either in Step 3 of Word’s Mail-Merge Wizard or after
you press the Select Recipients button in the Mailings
ribbon). Relax. It is just three additional mouse clicks:

After you have chosen the data file you would
like to use, a new “Confirm Data Source” dialog
box will appear.
Rich Malloy, www.techhelptoday.com
After you choose a data file, the
Confirm Data Source dialog box will
appear.
Page 4 of 5
How to Fix Number Formatting in Mail Merge




The default type of link is by OLE, but that is not what you want.
In the Confirm Data Source dialog box, click the check box to Show all.
In the expanded list of file types, choose MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls). (Choose
this even if you are using the newer Excel file
format: *.xlsx.)
If asked, confirm that you are selecting the
Entire Spreadsheet.
If you have already selected a spreadsheet for your
Word document, you may have to select it again, this
time via a DDE link.
That’s it! From now on, your Excel formatting will
travel over to Word Mail-Merge documents fairly intact.
One huge caveat here: Make sure that the data you want
to merge are in the first sheet of your Excel workbook.
(It took us two hours to finally figure out that DDE does
not see anything but the first Excel worksheet.)
To see an option for DDE linking, you
have to click the check box for Show
all.
Sounds good. So, you ask, if this is so good, why didn’t the geniuses at Microsoft simply do this
by default?
Another good question.
In previous versions of Word, there were a few minor downsides to this approach. But in my
tests with Word 2010, these problems seem to have been fixed. But for how long? It is perhaps
significant that the DDE link option refers only to the old “*.xls” file format rather than the new
one used by Excel 2007 and 2010. Can Microsoft be trying to sunset this option? Let’s hope not.
[Some of the ideas expressed above are from C. Dudas on the Web.]
Rich Malloy, www.techhelptoday.com
Page 5 of 5