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#1
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Extra digits in merge from Excel (Office 2003)
I am creating a mail merge using an Excel file and am having the problem that
other users have reported with extra digits after the decimal point. However, some of the things I'm seeing do not jibe with what I've read in these posts. I will use two numbers in the Excel file as examples throughout. I should mention that I did refer to http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm and tried that method. Here is what I am seeing: In the regular Office 2003 mail merge, where Word is expected to format the numbers, I am getting these two numbers: 67006.740000000005 33000 (One thing that is really strange about the first number is that, if I go to the Excel spreadsheet and keep clicking the "Increase decimal" button, that "5" digit at the end of the first number NEVER appears. I can go out to 100 significant digits and they are all zeroes following the "74".) The first thing I tried was to add another column to the spreadsheet with the function ROUND(C2,2). When I tried the merge again, merge dialog box showed the column with my rounded numbers exactly matching the unrounded ones: 67006.740000000005 33000 So, then I came here and tried the gmayor.com instructions. When I changed the Tools Options to prompt me to confirm the conversion at open, I got this: Regular (Unrounded) column: 67006.740000000000000000000000000000000000 (34 zeroes) 33000.000000000000000000000000000000000000 (36 zeroes) Rounded column: 67006.74 33000.00 It seems the only way to get the numbers that I am looking for is to: 1. Round the numbers, AND 2. Use the DDE conversion Is there something that I am missing? I am trying to figure this out for a bunch of people who are NOT advanced Word users, so I'd appreciate any information you can give me to simplify the steps / explanation. Thanks for any help you can give me. |
#2
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Hi =?Utf-8?B?QW5uIFNjaGFycGY=?=,
You don't mention whether you tried using formatting switches in the merge fields? If you don't want to do this for some reason, then indeed, you'll have no choice but to go the route you described, or something similar (such as converting to literal text in Excel). I am creating a mail merge using an Excel file and am having the problem that other users have reported with extra digits after the decimal point. However, some of the things I'm seeing do not jibe with what I've read in these posts. I will use two numbers in the Excel file as examples throughout. I should mention that I did refer to http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm and tried that method. Here is what I am seeing: In the regular Office 2003 mail merge, where Word is expected to format the numbers, I am getting these two numbers: 67006.740000000005 33000 (One thing that is really strange about the first number is that, if I go to the Excel spreadsheet and keep clicking the "Increase decimal" button, that "5" digit at the end of the first number NEVER appears. I can go out to 100 significant digits and they are all zeroes following the "74".) The first thing I tried was to add another column to the spreadsheet with the function ROUND(C2,2). When I tried the merge again, merge dialog box showed the column with my rounded numbers exactly matching the unrounded ones: 67006.740000000005 33000 So, then I came here and tried the gmayor.com instructions. When I changed the Tools Options to prompt me to confirm the conversion at open, I got this: Regular (Unrounded) column: 67006.740000000000000000000000000000000000 (34 zeroes) 33000.000000000000000000000000000000000000 (36 zeroes) Rounded column: 67006.74 33000.00 It seems the only way to get the numbers that I am looking for is to: 1. Round the numbers, AND 2. Use the DDE conversion Is there something that I am missing? I am trying to figure this out for a bunch of people who are NOT advanced Word users, so I'd appreciate any information you can give me to simplify the steps / explanation. Thanks for any help you can give me. Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) |
#3
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Yes, I was trying to avoid using switches because I know I will hear no end
of grief about how complicated Word is making things. (You know, the whole "shoot the messenger" thing!) From what I'd read in other posts/links, I thought that EITHER the rounding OR the DDE would fix the problem. I did not think I would have to do BOTH. "Cindy M -WordMVP-" wrote: Hi =?Utf-8?B?QW5uIFNjaGFycGY=?=, You don't mention whether you tried using formatting switches in the merge fields? If you don't want to do this for some reason, then indeed, you'll have no choice but to go the route you described, or something similar (such as converting to literal text in Excel). I am creating a mail merge using an Excel file and am having the problem that other users have reported with extra digits after the decimal point. However, some of the things I'm seeing do not jibe with what I've read in these posts. I will use two numbers in the Excel file as examples throughout. I should mention that I did refer to http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm and tried that method. Here is what I am seeing: In the regular Office 2003 mail merge, where Word is expected to format the numbers, I am getting these two numbers: 67006.740000000005 33000 (One thing that is really strange about the first number is that, if I go to the Excel spreadsheet and keep clicking the "Increase decimal" button, that "5" digit at the end of the first number NEVER appears. I can go out to 100 significant digits and they are all zeroes following the "74".) The first thing I tried was to add another column to the spreadsheet with the function ROUND(C2,2). When I tried the merge again, merge dialog box showed the column with my rounded numbers exactly matching the unrounded ones: 67006.740000000005 33000 So, then I came here and tried the gmayor.com instructions. When I changed the Tools Options to prompt me to confirm the conversion at open, I got this: Regular (Unrounded) column: 67006.740000000000000000000000000000000000 (34 zeroes) 33000.000000000000000000000000000000000000 (36 zeroes) Rounded column: 67006.74 33000.00 It seems the only way to get the numbers that I am looking for is to: 1. Round the numbers, AND 2. Use the DDE conversion Is there something that I am missing? I am trying to figure this out for a bunch of people who are NOT advanced Word users, so I'd appreciate any information you can give me to simplify the steps / explanation. Thanks for any help you can give me. Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) |
#4
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Hi =?Utf-8?B?QW5uIFNjaGFycGY=?=,
Yes, I was trying to avoid using switches because I know I will hear no end of grief about how complicated Word is making things. (You know, the whole "shoot the messenger" thing!) Yeah, MS didn't make life any easier for the end-user with this new default interface. Their hearts were in the right places, but they weren't listening to the right people... From what I'd read in other posts/links, I thought that EITHER the rounding OR the DDE would fix the problem. I did not think I would have to do BOTH. If you were using "normal numbers" with, say, just two decimal places, DDE would work. The problem is that you want such a degree of accuracy, and with computers there's always a bit of a discrepancy when it comes to lots of decimal places. Best thing for the user would probably be a button they can push in Excel to "convert" the table to a mail merge data source (write the columns to a "temp" sheet, and format them all as literal strings using the Data tools). Then it won't matter which connection method they choose. Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) |
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