The basics are as follows:

1. You either have to call the yourdocumentobject.MailMerge.OpenDataSource
method to (re-)open the data source, passing the appropriate SQL, or set the
value of yourdocumentobject.MailMerge.DataSource.QueryStr ing to the
appropriate SQL.

2. In Word 2002/2003 you can also include/exclude individual records, but in
my experience it is not reliable and I would avoid it.

3. What actually works depends largely on the data source and partly on the
version of Word. Modifying the QueryString may sound as if it is the easiest
approach, but it does not always work and you will need to determine in your
case whether it does or does not (for example, in some cases, changing the
Query string may not make sense unless you also change the ConnectString and
I believe that requires an OpenDataSource call.

4. Before calling OpenDataSource it's as well to disconnect the existing
source to avoid locking problems in ssome cases. You can probably do it
using

yourdocumentobject.MailMerge.DataSource.Close

but I don't know how reliable that is as I have generally used

yourdocumentobject.MailMerge.MainDocumentType = wdNotAMergeDocument

which would typically require you to save your Main Document type and
Destination and restore them later.

5. If you call OpenDataSource, you generally need to pass at least 3
parameters:
Name
Connection
SQLStatement

6. SQLStatement (and the other 2 parameters) are limited to 255 characters
and if you have a longer SQL string you will need to use SQLStatement1 as
well, which should take you up to around 511 characters. However, some data
sources only let you use around 255. e.g. if you have

SELECT myfield1, myfield2,....,myfieldn FROM mytable

then you might set

SQLStatement:="SELECT myfield1, myfield2,....,myfieldn"
SQLStatement1:=" FROM mytable"

i.e. make sure you insert the white space you need.

7. With Word 2002/2003 you may also need to pass the Subtype parameter,
which is not very well documented.

8. Most of the other parameters in the OpenDataSource call do nothing and
are not needed.

9. Beyond that, it gets complicated, because
a. each type of data source may use a different dialect of SQL
b. some types of data source may be opened in several different ways
depending on what is in the Name, Connection and Subtype parameters
c. some types of connection typically require a .odc or .udl file as well.

10. if you are only using one type of data source, your best bet is probably
to use the VBA Macro recorder to record opening a data source, and examine
the connection string and SQL generated, then build on that. But bewa
Word 2002 does not always record that stuff, and Word often truncates the
Connection string so that when you try to re-execute the recorded macro, it
fails. In that case, you generally have to shorten and correct the
connection string manually.

11. If you go to Google Groups and seach this group for, say,

Jamieson OpenDataSource SQLStatement

you will probably find plenty of examples. If you have a specific
requirement, let us know what it is and I will do my best.

12. If you happen to read German and happen to be able to get hold of a copy
easily, most of what I know on this subject is recorded in chapter 6 of
"Word-Programmierung - Das Handbuch, by CIndy Meister, Thomas Gahler,
Christian Fressdorf, Microsoft Press Deutschland, ISBN 3-86063-989-7.

Peter Jamieson


"Bev" wrote in message
...
Can you please help with appropriate VBA code to filter records in a
mailmerge.