How Do I Retain My Percentages From an Excel Sheet When Doing a Word Mail Merge?

By Foye Robinson

i percent icon image by Dmitri MIkitenko from Fotolia.com

You can use Word's mail merge to insert content from a spreadsheet, table or database into your document. When you insert a percentage into Word from Excel during a mail merge, the number's format changes. The percent symbol is removed and extra zeros are inserted. Thankfully, you can retain your value's percentage during a mail merge, so your document appears the way you want. You can access the mail merge field codes and add switches to them during the mail merge setup.

Step 1

Open a new document in Word and select "Tools," "Letters and Mailings" and "Mail Merge" from the toolbar. A Mail Merge task pane will open on the right.

Step 2

Pick the type of document you want to create and select "Next" from the bottom of the task pane.

Step 3

Choose to "Use the current document" as a starting document and select "Next."

Step 4

Choose to "Use an existing list" as your selected recipients, then click on "Browse" and find the Excel file you want to use.

Step 5

Choose the correct worksheet from the "Select Table" dialog box and click "OK." The contents of the worksheet will be displayed in the "Mail Merge Recipients" dialog box. Click "OK" to accept them and select "Next" from the task pane.

Step 6

Click on "More items..." and insert the fields you want to add, then click "Close."

Step 7

Go to your Word document and arrange the fields on your page so they are positioned the way you want.

Step 8

Find the field that includes the percentages from Excel. Press "Alt + F9" on your keyboard to reveal the merge field codes. Alternatively, you can select "Tools" and "Options" from the toolbar, choose the "View" tab, add a check mark to "Field Codes," and click "OK."

Step 9

Place your cursor at the end of the field name, just before the ending brace where the percentages will be displayed. Add "# .00%" there. Your code should resemble:

{ MERGEFIELD "Percentage" # .00% }

Step 10

Press "Alt + F9" again to hide the merge field codes. Return to the "Mail Merge" task pane and select "Next" to preview your merged data.

Step 11

Use the left and right arrows (in the top of the task pane) to view the data. Your percentages from Excel will be retained.

Step 12

Select "Next: Complete the merge" and then "Print" or "Edit individual letters..." to complete the merge.

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