How To Format Mail Merge Zip Codes

When using Microsoft Word to mail merge name and address data into a series of form letters or even labels, the zip code field will merge great if it contains 5 digits. However, there are areas of the country that have five digits that begin with a zero. Mail Merge drops the leading zero and this can be a serious problem for the USPS. Your letter going to 02920, a Rhode Island zip code, will print as 2920. The letter could end up floating around for a while until someone realizes it is meant for Rhode Island.

There is a way to tell mail merge to not drop the leading zero.

Keep The Leading Zero

I am assuming you are aware of how to use the mail merge function of Microsoft Word. If not, see this Easy Mail Merge Using Microsoft Office article I wrote that details how to use mail merge. 

The document being merged with your address list will read something like this:

Press ALT+F9, and you’ll see the code behind the fields:

The zip code merge field looks like this { MERGEFIELD “ZIP_Code” }.

To stop the suppression of the leading zero, use this: 

{ MERGEFIELD “ZIP_Code” \# 0#### }

This instructs Word to stop zero suppression at the first of the five numbers, meaning do not suppress the leading zero. 

Here is what the code means:

• The backslash starts the formatting switch
• The # tells it to format numbers
• Include five numbers with zero suppression to stop at the first number

Now all your mail will get to the correct post office.

Dick

MORE MAIL MERGE ARTICLES

• Getting Excel’s Currency Symbol to Show in Mail Merges
• How To Print Only Portions Of Mail Merge In Word