Word 2007 mail merge gitch? - Editing data source from within merg

[rgille]

Hi - Can anyone verify that there is a known glitch in current Word 2007
which does not allow edit of a data source while merging the data source
using the mail merge wizard? I'm experiencing what I think is a glitch.
When I start a mail merge using the mail merge wizard, I use the current open
form letter as my starting document. When I get to Step 3 of 6 "Select
recipients," I select "Use an existing list" then Browse for the list. I
select and open an existing Excel data source. I select the table on Sheet
1$. At this point I should be able to click on the Data Source name (in the
lower half of the dialog box) and click Edit to add new records to the Data
Source from with the mail merge process. However, Word thinks the Excel file
is already in use and will not allow me to open it. I have verified that the
Excel document is not otherwise in use and is not password protected.
Apparently Word thinks it's open because I selected it as the data source and
opened the table in the mail merge. However, you have to open the table to
get to the dialog that allows you to edit the data source. How can I let
Microsoft know about this problem? Thanks.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Here,
a. if I have the sheet open in Excel (2007), I can't edit it in Word via
the Edit recipients dialog box (This is not new behaviour and I don't think
it will change while Excel spreadsheets are essentially single-user).
b. if the sheet is closed when I try to connect to it, it all works fine.
This is significantly better than in Word 2003 where you simply couldn't
edit Excel data in Word. It seems to work whether the Excel sheet is .xls or
..xlsx format, and the Word document is .docx or .doc format
c. If, however, you are creating your document from a template that has
been attached to the same workbook, the data source is open and you won't be
able to edit. This is generally the case with "single-user" data sources in
Word, or has been since Word 2002.

However, I'm only using a very simple example. For this I'm using Vista
which could also be a factor. So i suggest...
d. you also try a very simple example
e. you verify that your attached template is not also connected to the data
source (even if it is the "normal" template it could be attached, but I
think you would face the annoying SQL question every time you started Word
if that was the case)
f. if you still can't get it to work, some other fact or must be at work -
in this case I doubt I would be able to troubleshoot effectively and you
could consider using the free Microsoft email support from their support
website at http://support.microsoft.com. Don't be put off by all the stuff
about charges - as long as you are within the support period (which almost
has to be the case) you should be able to submit an incident for free, and
the process should make it clear that that is what is happening.

Peter Jamieson

 

[rgille]

Hi Peter - After I read your reply I started over and made my own primary and
data source documents (I had been using test primary and data source
documents provided by the "Step by Step Microsoft Office Word 2007" training
CD). Then it all worked as it should. Probably the Step by Step test
documents were attached in some way, so when the primary document was open
Word thought the data source was open. In future I will try from scratch
before posting to this discussion board. Thank you!