My best guess is that your Excel document /has/ been corrupted and that the
corruption is not obvious - i.e. when you look at the worksheet, it contains
what you expect.
I think the only way to test that is to find a way to reconstruct the
spreadsheet without re-introducing the problem (which, for example, using
copy/paste will probably do). However, how to do that depends partly on how
complex your spreadsheet is. If it is very simple (e.g. all you have done is
enter the data, never applied any formats to cells, and have done simple
stuff like adjust column widths, then the simplest method might be to save
to .csv or one of the other "non-Excel" formats listed in the "Save as type"
dropdown in the Save As dialog, then open the saved file and save it in
Excel format. However, you may need to avoid simple formats such as .csv if
your data has characters such as double-quotes or commas in it (and
double-quotes may cause problems anyway, although I think you would have
noticed when you were doing your experiments with reduced record counts).
If your sheet is more complex, it might be pssoble to do something with
Excel VBA. But let's move one step at a time...
Peter Jamieson
"jenniclair via OfficeKB.com" u25634@uwe wrote in message
news:654b7d562b355@uwe...
Peter,
Thank you for all your suggestions - I've tried them all out and
unfortunately, nothing works!
The DDE is "working" - I carried out the test as suggested and it did all
the
things you said it should. In addition, I have another database, which is
working fine, so that doesn't seem to be the problem.
I did wonder whether the excel document was corrupted because I tried to
create a brand new Word mail merge document using the database in question
as
a source, with the same result - DDE connection could not be established,
so
I used the convertor method of opening it, which did work but didn't give
me
all of the potential merge fields that it should have done, as I described
in
my original message. I therefore tried copying and pasting all of the
data
from the (possibly) corrupt document into a brand new excel workbook with
a
new name and tried to merge to that but with the same result.
I have tried saving the database to a CD and taking it to a different PC,
where I started again, with a blank Word doc and tried to merge to the
Excel
file on the CD but again with the same results, so I'm assuming it's not
the
computer that's at fault.
What I have discovered, while playing around, is that if I just copy a
small
portion of the database out into a new file - keeping the same number of
columns but only taking a few of the rows - it will not only merge to a
new
Word doc using DDE but it will give me all of the column headers in the
drop
down "insert merge fields" list. This would make me think that there was
a
maximum file size that can be merged, if it wasn't for the fact that it
had
worked previously and I have not increased the size of the database since
the
last time I used the mail merge successfully. To test this theory,
however,
I have tried selecting a range when the convertor asks if I want to use
the
whole workbook or just a part of it, when I first open the Word document
but
it still does not give me the correct fields in the drop down "insert
merge
field" menu.
I am at a total loss as to what to do - obviously, it's causing me a major
headache that I can't use any of my merge documents (needless to say, I
seem
to need them all the time at the moment, while it's not working!). If
there
is anyone out there who has come across this before and can tell me how to
sort it out, I would be extremely grateful. Once again, if you can give
me
step by step instructions for any possible solutions I would appreciate it
as
I really do not know anything more than the basics when it comes to
computers!
TIA.
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