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Tell Word the format of a date in a recipient list

Anonymous
2024-12-16T11:24:49+00:00

Hi there,

I'm using Word to perform mail merges using Excel spreadsheets as recipient lists.

I'm having a problem with the date merge field. I have set dates to appear as DD MONTH YYYY - e.g., 01 January 2000.

If the date in the Excel spreadsheet is undoubtedly DD/MM/YYYY - e.g., 13/01/2020 - then Word correctly reads it that way.

If, however, the date in the Excel spreadsheet is ambiguous - e.g., 02/09/2021 - then Word defaults to MM/DD/YYYY. This means that I'm getting 9 February 2021 instead of 2 September 2021 in my letter.

How can I get Word to always read dates as DD/MM/YYYY?

Many thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-12-16T12:55:00+00:00

    Are the Excel entries formatted as dates? If so, they should all be consistent.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  1. Anonymous
    2024-12-16T13:42:04+00:00

    I've fortunately found a non-Microsoft solution, so am closing this post.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-12-16T13:39:34+00:00

    They appear to be formatted as strings, as they all begin with an apostrophe. I just wish there were a way for Word to know/assume that it's in the DD/MM/YYYY format, considering that my regional Microsoft settings are set to United Kingdom. Oh well!

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-12-16T11:49:56+00:00

    Hi Hans,

    Thanks for the suggestion.

    Unfortunately, this still causes the date "02/09/2021" to appear as "9 February 2021" when it should be "2 September 2021".

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  4. HansV 462.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-12-16T11:31:02+00:00

    Right-click the sheet tab.

    Select Toggle Field Codes from the context menu.

    Make the field code look like this:

    { MERGEFIELD FieldName @ "d MMMM yyyy" }

    where FieldName is the name of the merge field.

    Press F9 to hide the field code and update the result.

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