Originally Posted by macropod

That depends on what else the parent field is contained in. If it's contained in a QUOTE field, for example, the whole lot gets converted.

Whether a formula field can be used in a given situation depends on what you're trying to do. Most of the things you'd want to test can have their results expressed numerically, so that's not a major concern.

The field code I provided works because the condition being tested can have its results expressed numerically and, therefore, the numeric picture switches that can be used to format numbers can be coerced into providing the required output. Numeric picture switches cater for +ve, -ve and 0 values to be formatted differently.

As you can imagine, things can start getting complicated when there are more than three possible outcomes...

The same field construction will work in an ordinary document; the difference being that nothing inside a QUOTE field or IF field gets converted to its results. That's an important limitation because it means tests of volatile values, such as dates, don't become fixed the way they would with a mailmerge. That, in turn, could give invalid results on another day, for example.