WD: How to Use Dates as Mail Merge Selection Criteria
ID: Q89532
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The information in this article applies to:
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Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
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Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
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Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a
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Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition
SUMMARY
In Microsoft Word, you can perform a selective mail merge based on a list
of dates. For example, you can merge records based on such criteria as a
group of months, days of months, years or combinations of all three. For
example, you can perform a selective mail merge based on a list of names
and birth dates.
In addition, you can instruct Word to change the date format of data in the
merged document.
MORE INFORMATION
To use the selective merge function:
- Set up the data document. For example:
FRIENDS,BIRTHDATE
Karan Khanna, 10-5-1940
Jon Morris, 6/1/1926
Megan Sherman, 5/26/1907
NOTE: You can use either forward slashes or dashes in the dates. If
your data document is formatted as a table, you can also spell out
the date (for example, "June 1, 1926").
NOTE: The example companies, organizations, products, people, and events
depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company,
organization, product, person, or event is intended or should be
inferred.
- Set up the main document:
- {if {MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ "MMMM"}="October" "{MERGEFIELD
Friends} {MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ "MMMM d, yyyy"}"}
This example merges records for people born in October. The
Birthdate field is formatted as "October 5, 1940", regardless
of the data format of the data document (October 5, 1940, or
10/5/1940, or 10/5/40).
- {if {MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ "MM"}="10" "{MERGEFIELD Friends}
{MERGEFIELD Birthdate}"}
This example works the same as example a, except that the Birthdate
prints exactly as it appears in the data document.
- {if {MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ "yy"}="40" "{MERGEFIELD Friends}
{MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ "MM/dd/yy"}"}
This example merges records for people born in 1940. The Birthdate
field is formatted as "10/5/40."
- {if {MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ " yyyy"}="1940"
"{MERGEFIELD Friends} {MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ "d-MMM-yy"}"}
Same result as example 3 above, except that the Birthdate prints in
"5-October-40" format.
- {if {MERGEFIELD Birthdate \@ "MMMM d, yyyy"}="October 5, 1940"
"{MERGEFIELD Friends} {MERGEFIELD Birthdate}"}
Merges only the records of people born on October 5, 1940.
NOTE: To enter the field brackets ({}), choose Field from the Insert
menu (or press CTRL+F9 in Windows or COMMAND+F9 in Macintosh).
These examples do not illustrate all possible selective merge
combinations or date formats. To view all possible DATE field switches,
choose field from the Insert menu. Under Categories, select Date And Time,
under Field Names, select Date, and then click Options. All the possible
date switch combinations appear in the Instructions box.
It is not possible to do a selective print merge using less than or greater
than statements based on dates because Word interprets the dates as text.
The dates in Word do not have a numerical value that can be compared.
For example this will NOT work:
{ if {MERGEFIELD mydate \@ "M/d/yy"} > "4/15/97 "true" "false" }
For information on working with dates, please see the following articles in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q122842 WD: How to Perform Calculations with Dates and Times
Q105537 WD: How to Determine the Number of Days Between Two Dates
REFERENCES
"Microsoft Word for Windows User's Guide," version 2.0, pages 609-656,
751.
Additional query words:
conditional pmh
Keywords : word8 kbfield macword98 winword kbmerge macword word6 winword2 word7 word95
Version : MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a,98; WINDOWS:2.0,2.0a,2.0a-CD,2.0b,2.0c,6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto
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