I have data in an Excel spreadsheet that has dollar amounts formatted as
currency to 2 decimal places, but when I try to merge the Excel data into a
Word document the dollar amounts loses all currency formatting. What should
be $1,590.00 but ends up merging as 1590, why?

Because Excel gives the value, not the format.
Use the TEXT function to transfer to Word, like
=TEXT(A1,"$#,###.00")
Use the format string you used for your original cell. You can find it by
selecting the cell and choose FormatCellsNumber tabCustom

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel


"Sharon" wrote in message
...
I have data in an Excel spreadsheet that has dollar amounts formatted as
currency to 2 decimal places, but when I try to merge the Excel data into
a
Word document the dollar amounts loses all currency formatting. What
should
be $1,590.00 but ends up merging as 1590, why?

You can do the formatting on the Word side by adding a format switch to the
merge code: The text below is verbatim from Word Help. Search form "Format
Merged Data" in Word help for the complete topic:

To control other aspects of formatting, press ALT+F9 to display field codes
(field code: Placeholder text that shows where specified information from
your data source will appear; the elements in a field that generate a field's
result. The field code includes the field characters, field type, and
instructions.) in the main document, and then add switches (switch: When
working with fields, a special instruction that causes a specific action to
occur. Generally, a switch is added to a field to modify a result.) to the
merge fields.

For example:

To display the number "34987.89" as "$34,987.89," add a numeric picture
switch (\# $#,###.00).
To display the number "0945" as "9:45 PM," add the date/time picture switch
(\@ "h:mm am/pm").
To ensure that the merged information has the same font and point size you
apply to the merge field, add the \* MERGEFORMAT switch.

--
Kevin Backmann


"Sharon" wrote:

I have data in an Excel spreadsheet that has dollar amounts formatted as
currency to 2 decimal places, but when I try to merge the Excel data into a
Word document the dollar amounts loses all currency formatting. What should
be $1,590.00 but ends up merging as 1590, why?

That's the way the merge works. Unfortunately, merge ignores the cell's
formats.

You have two options:
1. Convert the number to text in Excel.
2. Format the number in Word.

To convert to text, use something like:
=TEXT(A1,"$#,##0.00")

To format the number in Word, post to the Word newsgroup.

Regards,
Fred.

then use
"Sharon" wrote in message
...
I have data in an Excel spreadsheet that has dollar amounts formatted as
currency to 2 decimal places, but when I try to merge the Excel data into
a
Word document the dollar amounts loses all currency formatting. What
should
be $1,590.00 but ends up merging as 1590, why?