Document Type Problem

[JoyceA]

One of our users (with the newest computer and Office 2003) is having a
problem with previously merged documents. The documents are created and
saved with a Main Document Type of Normal Word Document, but when he opens
them they are changed back to a Document Type of Letters and he can't see any
of the merged-in data, he just sees the chevrons and the field name. This
doesn't happen on all merged documents for this user and it doesn't happen to
anyone else.

What settings could be involved in this? We have looked at the
Tools/Optitons/View & Print settings but we don't see anything different from
other users.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Could there be an AutoOpen macro in either the document, the template to
which it is attached, or in normal.dot?

If not, what happens if the user saves the document in HTML format? If you
open a saved HTML document as a text file (using Word or Notepad) you should
be able to see whether or not there is a block of HTML/XML text near the top
with Merge data source information. That might provide a clue.

Peter Jamieson

 

[JoyceA]

Dear Mr Jamieson,

Thanks for the reply. I saved and opened the document like you indicated
and result was very interesting to look at, but didn't say anything about the
merge data source or provide clues meaningful to me.

After looking at this a little more, we note that the main document is in
the rtf format. Could that make a difference? We tried saving the newly
created document as a .doc but the user still couldn't see the merged data
(although everyone else still can). Do you think it could matter that the
main document type was .rtf? These main documents are old and we don't know
why they were created as .rtf's.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Thanks for the reply. I saved and opened the document like you indicated

and result was very interesting to look at, but didn't say anything about
the
merge data source or provide clues meaningful to me.

OK. If the HTML document is not confidential etc., you are welcome to send a
copy of it to me (you will need to "despam" my e-address) and I will see if
I can spot anything.

After looking at this a little more, we note that the main document is in
the rtf format. Could that make a difference?

It shouldn't, but it might. If possible, create a new document in Word and
copy/paste the contents of the old document in, then reconnect to the data
source, and see if that makes a difference.

We tried saving the newly
created document as a .doc but the user still couldn't see the merged data
(although everyone else still can). Do you think it could matter that the
main document type was .rtf? These main documents are old and we don't
know
why they were created as .rtf's.

If it works on other peoples' machines then the use of RTF can't be the only
factor. I can only guess, but the main purpose of RTF is to make it easier
to port documents between different word processors and different versions
of Word.

When the "problem" machine opens the file, does Convert File dialog box pop
up? Does it on the non-problem machines? Or vice versa?

Peter Jamieson
(e-mail address removed)