Customize mail merge date and currency formats in Microsoft Word

When using mail merge tables in Word templates, you may run into the difficulty of formatting the date and currency fields. To ensure correct formatting, a Picture Switch is applied to the merge field.

About mail merge date and currency formats

• All number switches must begin with \#.
• Zero is used to force a digit, whereas # is used to display a digit only if it's available. For example, the value 23 formatted with 0000 would display as 0023, while it will display as 23 if it's formatted with #,##0.
• Date switches must begin with \@ and the date format portion must be enclosed in quote marks. Typical format switches for dates include MM/dd/yyyy or MMM d, yyyy.
  • Use M for the month. For example, for March, M = 3, MM = 03, MMM = Mar, and MMMM = March.
  • Use d for the day, where d = 4, dd = 04, ddd = Fri, and dddd = Friday.
  • For the year, use yy or yyyy.
  • For the time, use h or hh for the hour, m or mm for the minute, and am/pm to include the AM/PM designation.
• Unlike mail merge fields, bookmarks in Word auto-correct based on the operating system's localization settings.

Customize mail merge field formats

1. Open the template in Microsoft Word.
2. Hold the Alt key and press F9 to view the field formats.

   A currency mail merge field will look like {MERGEFIELD “fieldname” \* MERGEFORMAT \# $#,###,###.00}.

3. Modify the field switches as needed.
4. Optionally, after modifying the field switches, hold the Alt key and press F9 to display the fields instead of the field formats.
5. Save the Word template.

Format examples

• Currency fields: {MERGEFIELD “fieldname” \# $#,###,###.00 \* MERGEFORMAT}
• Date fields: {MERGEFIELD “fieldname” \@ "MMMM d, yyyy"}
• Phone number fields: {MERGEFIELD “fieldname” \# ###'-'###'-'####}