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How to format date, currency and number during mail merge in Word?

Author: Amanda Li Last Modified: 2025-04-07

Mail Merge is a great feature in Word that lets you create multiple personalized documents at once, like letters, labels, or emails, using a single template and a data source. But when your data includes dates, currency, or numbers, you'll need to format those fields properly to make sure everything looks professional.

Formatting date properly during mail merge in Word

Formatting currency and number properly during mail merge in Word

Before you apply formatting to date, currency, or number fields, follow these steps:

  1. Select the merge field you want to change.
  2. Press "Shift + F9" to make the field coding visible. The field you selected should now look like this:
    {MERGEFIELD DATE}, {MERGEFIELD CURRENCY}, or {«Percent»}

Formatting date properly during mail merge in Word

To control how the date appears, add the following format switch inside the field code: \@ "MMMM d, yyyy". After editing, the field should look like this:

{MERGEFIELD DATE\@ "MMMM d, yyyy"}

The formatted date will appear like this:

Example of the date code 'MMMM d, yyyy'

Note: You can customize the date format to fit your needs. Some other common options include:

  • \@ "MMM d, yyyy" → Apr 7, 2025
  • \@ "MM/dd/yyyy" → 04/07/2025
  • \@ "d MMM yyyy" → 7 Apr 2025
  • \@ "dddd, MMMM d, yyyy" → Monday, April 7, 2025
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How to format currency and number fields during mail merge in Word

If you're working with numbers or currency fields in a mail merge, you can control how they appear by adding formatting directly into the field code. For example, to format currency values with a dollar sign and two decimal places, add the following format switch inside the field code: \# "$,0.00". Your updated field should look like this:

{MERGEFIELD CURRENCY \# "$,0.00"}

Example of the currency code '# $,0.00'

Notes:

  • The \# "$,0.00" part is called a numeric picture switch — it tells Word how to format the number.
  • Here are some other useful formatting options, with examples:
    • \# 0 → 1234 (rounded whole number)
    • \# ,0 → 1,234 (whole number with a thousand separator)
    • \# ,0.00 → 1,234.00 (number with two decimal places and a thousand separator)
    • \# "$,0" → $1,234 (whole dollar amount with a thousand separator)
    • \# "$,0.00;($,0.00);'-'" → $1,234.00, ($1,234.00), or "-" (formats negatives with parentheses and shows a hyphen for zero)

If you're formatting a percentage field, you may need to multiply the value by 100 and apply the percentage format. For example:

{ =«Percent»*100 \# "0.00%" }

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