Thanks, I'll try that, but it seems to me an excel problem as the merge field
itself shows as US date format when the excel table is formatted OZ. That
is, when I look at the Excel table it is 26/12/2008 and when I edit the merge
table it is 12/26/2008. I just can't work it out.

"macropod" wrote:

Hi Marie,

To get the date format you want, you can add a formatting picture switch in Word. To do this:
.. 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 date will come out as '2 August 2008'. Other possible date formatting switches include:
. \@ "dddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "ddd, d MMMM yyyy";
. \@ "d MMM yyyy";
. \@ "dd/MMM/yyyy";
. \@ "d-MM-yy";
Note: you must use uppercase 'M's for months.
.. position the cursor anywhere in this field and press F9 to update it;
.. run your mailmerge.

Not familiar with Publisher, sorry.

--
Cheers
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]


"Marie" wrote in message ...
When I try to merge an excel table to word or Publisher, the date format
changes to US format. So I select the data source and open it to edit, the
date format changes?? Any suggestion? Thanks