[alefragnani]

Hi,

I'm having a problem while creating mail merge process, saving the result
file as RTF format.

I created a .DOC document, a database and added fields in the header, body
and footer. Then I executed the mail merge and the fields are correctly
updated, in all places. Till here everything is working fine. I can save the
file (.DOC), open it again, and the fields are updated. But if I decide to
save the file as .RTF instead of .DOC, when I open it again, select the Print
Preview button and close the preview, the files located in the header and the
footer are not correctly drawn. Instead of the original merged value, it
shows the FieldName.

I noted that when I open a .RTF file, the buttons in MailMerge toolbar are
disabled, so I guess that MailMerge is not compatible with .RTF files. I have
to select "open datasource" so it correctly merges the fields again. This is
not necessary if I'm using .DOC files. Does this happens because I'm using
..RTF files, and .RTF files doesn't contains Macros?

Just a note. I'm using .RTF files because I need to interoperate the merged
files between different word processing tools.

Does anyone has any idea?

Thanks in advance

Alessandro

[Peter Jamieson]

Does this happens because I'm using
.RTF files, and .RTF files doesn't contains Macros?

Some of the things you describe happen because the rtf format does not
retain information about mailmerge data sources.

Microsoft certainly changed this at some point (previously, .rtf was more or
less a "readable version" of .doc). In all probablity, they were trying to
improve Word security, and .rtf format has in effect been "deprecated" now
that the WordProcessingML and other XML formats have been introduced.
Further, I can imagine that although the two things are not strictly
related, this has probably had an impact on the evaluation of field results
in headers and footers.

if that is all correct, then I am not sure what you can do to avoid the loss
of informaiton you are experiencing. I suspect that
a. if you need to continue saving as .rtf, you may need to do something
special to restore the information that has been lost
b. srategically, .rtf format will disappear and you will probably need to
start supporting XML. However, I get the impression that it will still take
some time for the XML schema for Word to stabilise.

Peter Jamieson

"alefragnani" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm having a problem while creating mail merge process, saving the result
file as RTF format.

I created a .DOC document, a database and added fields in the header, body
and footer. Then I executed the mail merge and the fields are correctly
updated, in all places. Till here everything is working fine. I can save
the
file (.DOC), open it again, and the fields are updated. But if I decide to
save the file as .RTF instead of .DOC, when I open it again, select the
Print
Preview button and close the preview, the files located in the header and
the
footer are not correctly drawn. Instead of the original merged value, it
shows the FieldName.

I noted that when I open a .RTF file, the buttons in MailMerge toolbar are
disabled, so I guess that MailMerge is not compatible with .RTF files. I
have
to select "open datasource" so it correctly merges the fields again. This
is
not necessary if I'm using .DOC files. Does this happens because I'm using
.RTF files, and .RTF files doesn't contains Macros?

Just a note. I'm using .RTF files because I need to interoperate the
merged
files between different word processing tools.

Does anyone has any idea?

Thanks in advance

Alessandro

[alefragnani]

Hi Mr. Jamieson,

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Does this happens because I'm using
.RTF files, and .RTF files doesn't contains Macros?

Some of the things you describe happen because the rtf format does not
retain information about mailmerge data sources.

Microsoft certainly changed this at some point (previously, .rtf was more or
less a "readable version" of .doc). In all probablity, they were trying to
improve Word security, and .rtf format has in effect been "deprecated" now
that the WordProcessingML and other XML formats have been introduced.
Further, I can imagine that although the two things are not strictly
related, this has probably had an impact on the evaluation of field results
in headers and footers.

It seems that this link (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825765/en-us) that
you posted a month ago indirectly explains the main problem. It says about
the message displayed when you open a mail merge main document. Since RTF
files doesn't contains Macros, MSWord don't know that it has to load the
datasource to update the fields (it seems to be a macro that starts this
process). The strangest thing is that the fields misses its contents just
after previewing (or printing). What I could see is that when you
preview/print, it calls "Update Fields" action (you can see it in the undo
stack).


if that is all correct, then I am not sure what you can do to avoid the loss
of informaiton you are experiencing. I suspect that
a. if you need to continue saving as .rtf, you may need to do something
special to restore the information that has been lost
b. srategically, .rtf format will disappear and you will probably need to
start supporting XML. However, I get the impression that it will still take
some time for the XML schema for Word to stabilise.


Since there is no real need (today) to maintain the fields, I'm thinking in
unlink them.

Thanks for your help.

Alessandro

Peter Jamieson

"alefragnani" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm having a problem while creating mail merge process, saving the result
file as RTF format.

I created a .DOC document, a database and added fields in the header, body
and footer. Then I executed the mail merge and the fields are correctly
updated, in all places. Till here everything is working fine. I can save
the
file (.DOC), open it again, and the fields are updated. But if I decide to
save the file as .RTF instead of .DOC, when I open it again, select the
Print
Preview button and close the preview, the files located in the header and
the
footer are not correctly drawn. Instead of the original merged value, it
shows the FieldName.

I noted that when I open a .RTF file, the buttons in MailMerge toolbar are
disabled, so I guess that MailMerge is not compatible with .RTF files. I
have
to select "open datasource" so it correctly merges the fields again. This
is
not necessary if I'm using .DOC files. Does this happens because I'm using
.RTF files, and .RTF files doesn't contains Macros?

Just a note. I'm using .RTF files because I need to interoperate the
merged
files between different word processing tools.

Does anyone has any idea?

Thanks in advance

Alessandro