Mail Merge Directly From SQL Server

[Vaughn Haybittle]

Hi,

I need to know whether it is possible to do a mail merge directly from a SQL
server. Most of the documenttation I have seen relating to mail merges
describes Access, Excel, Outlook and even text files as data sources.

I want to collect information via a web site, store it in aSQL Server
Database on the hosting server, and do a mail merge direcly from that SQL
Server. Is there a better way to do this?

Regards,

Vaughn

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I need to know whether it is possible to do a mail merge directly from a

SQL server.

It is possible, but there are a few gotchas, e.g.
a. if you are using Word 2000 or earlier, you have to use ODBC to connect
to the server and if you do that, any unicode format fields in the database
will appear as blanks (e.g. NVARCHAR fields). It should be OK with Word
2002/2003 with the OLEDB connection method, but I would check.
b. You may have difficulty avoiding embedding login/password information,
either in the Word document itself or in the .odc file that Word will lead
you to set up. Since this information is in effect stored as plain text, it
is a security risk.

Other ways to generate reports from SQL Server may be simpler, depending on
what you are doing - e.g. Access reports can report on linked SQL Server
tables, and if your organisation happens to have SQl Reporting Services,
that's anothter option.

Peter Jamieson