3

I have set up a mail-marge in Word 2003. The source is a document where each field is a formatted text as the following one:

I have different pieces of text to insert.

However, when I insert such a Merge Field in my primary document, it losts its original formatting. Is it possible to retain all the formatting I have set in the source document file?

Improve this question
2
  • Could you clarify, are you having problems getting the mergefield to use the same formatting as surrounding content, or when you merge the field with data you having trouble getting the formatting of that to stay the same?
    – Adam
    Jul 8, 2012 at 1:40
  • The latter you said. I want the text to appear in the merged document as I have formatted in the source document.
    – Toc
    Jul 8, 2012 at 18:29

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

Try using "REF" instead of "MERGEFIELD". It's a little strange, but I found it to preserve formatting with superscripts, and bolded characters.

https://superuser.com/a/457222/143655

Improve this answer
0

Make sure you have the "Preserve formatting during updates" checkbox ticked in the dialog which is shown when creating the merge field. You can display this dialog for an existing field by right clicking on it and choosing "Edit Field".

This option will include the "MERGEFORMAT" switch which will instruct the mail merge engine to keep the formatting that is initially applied to the field when it's merged with data.

Improve this answer
3
  • Sorry, I've checked the box you have suggested but still my text does not retain original formatting. Here is as the source document and the mailmerge document appear: i.imgur.com/rzOii.png
    – Toc
    Jul 12, 2012 at 11:53
  • @Toc, thanks. can you also attach the template somewhere as well?
    – Adam
    Jul 12, 2012 at 12:08
  • i.imgur.com/T5Tdc.png is this what you are asking for or not?
    – Toc
    Jul 13, 2012 at 5:58
0

Here's what worked for me! https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/320473/excel-data-does-not-retain-its-formatting-in-mail-merge-operations-in

In addition, I'll share a small trick that helped me - ensure that the Mail Merge tab (containing the mail merge info) is the first tab in the Excel file.

Hope this helps others having the same issue.

Improve this answer
2
  • Consider providing the content from the link that helped you resolve in case the link goes bad the content is still quoted on this post.
    – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style
    Oct 9, 2017 at 17:49
  • Please quote the essential parts of the answer from the reference link(s), as the answer can become invalid if the linked page(s) change.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Oct 9, 2017 at 19:05

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .