Saving Mail Merge Documents

[Jim Snively]

I have several mail merge documents that use an access database table as a
data source. We recently moved from Office 97 to Office 2003 and it seems
the location of the data source and the record selection criteria are not
being saved with the (shell) document. Can anyone help me get this
information linked with the saved shell document?

Thanks,

Jim Snively

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Are these documents actually Word templates, or do they have attached
templates that are also attached to the same data source? if so, try
removing the data source from the template.

Are you seeing any messages about executing SQL, or just a message that the
data source cannot be found, some other message, or no message at all when
the mail merge main document is opened? I don't have enough info. to tell if
it is relevant, but it may also be worth checking out the following KB
article:

"Opening This Will Run the Following SQL Command" Message When You Open a
Word Document"
at
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=825765


Peter Jamieson

 

[Jim Snively]

The documents I am trying to open is what I would call a shell document. It
has merge fields that are extracted from a table in an Access DB. I am
getting a message that the data source cannot be found. When I reconnect to
the database the record selection criteria (particular field is non blank)
is not remembered. The document started life in Word 97, is now Word 2002.
In Word 97 the document remembered where the mdb file was and which table
and records were wanted. I want a non-technical person to be able to print
selected letters from the mail merge file and reconnecting the data source
and renetering the criteria may be more than she should have to handle.

Thanks,

Jim Snively

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Unfortunately, a number of things can, in practice, cause the kind of
problem you describe. All we can do is point out the problems we know,
suggest if necessary how you can find out which problems you may be
experiencing, and suggest workarounds.

It would be useful to know whether you are using Office/Word 2003 as you
mentioned in your first message or Word 2002 as you mentioned in your second
(or both!) because Word 2002 has some errors that were fixed in Word 2003,
particularly to do with Access and Excel connections.

The first thing to try is to change the connection method you are using. By
default, Word 97 used DDE (although you may have configured it to use ODBC,
in which case please let us know if you can). By default, Word 2002/2003 use
OLEDB. OLEDB cannot use certain types of query as data sources (for example,
parameter queries, queries containing certain built-in functions, and you
may also have difficulties if you are using queries that use wildcards for
string matching. If you aren't using queries as data sources, so much the
better, but to change the document so it uses DDE, check Word
Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversions at open", go through the
connection process again, select the .mdb then select the DDE option when
offered. If you still lose the connection when Word re-opens, it may be
necessary to use some VBA code in Word to restore the connection each time
the document is opened, and we can go into that later.

Other things that may be worth trying at this point include:
a. if possible, ensure the pathname of your .mdb is short, at least for
test purposes
b. for test purposes, try recreating one of your documents from scratch in
Word 2002/3 to see if that makes any difference.

Best I can do for now,

Peter Jamieson