Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
Tom Koski Tom Koski is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default Word 2007 - "word was unable to open the data source"

This is the only error I get when trying to open an excel data source in Word
2007 mailmerge document. This is a Vista Enterprise 64 system - the same
document and spreadsheet works fine on my Win XP Pro 64 system...

The spreadsheet is a simple single sheet workbook with 10 columns and 9
rows, although I have tried it with more complex multi-sheet workbooks, with
the same results. In fact, I can't get it to open ANY kind of data source.

Any ideas?

Hopefully,
Tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
Peter Jamieson Peter Jamieson is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,582
Default Word 2007 - "word was unable to open the data source"

I don't know much about Vista 64 Enterprise, but I understand that it is
"optimised for security" in various ways. I wonder whether on that system,
the ACE (Access) OLE DB provider that Word would normally use to open an
Excel workbook is actually installed, or disabled in some way. (I find that
slightly difficult to believe if Access is installed, but I suppose it is
possible). That said, Word should then "fall back" to using ODBC (even less
likely to be installed) and then DDE (which might also be disabled, or even
absent, in that configuration). You could see if the ACE provider is there
by going to Word Select Recipients-Use existing list-New Source, select
other/Advanced, click Next, and see if the ACE provider is listed.

A simple test to ensure that it isn't simply /all/ Mail merge data sources
that fail would be to copy/paste your Excel table into a Word document, save
and close, then try to use that as the data source. Or just create a small
table in an empty Word document with a row contaiining column headers and a
few rows of data, and try to use that.


--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
This is the only error I get when trying to open an excel data source in
Word
2007 mailmerge document. This is a Vista Enterprise 64 system - the same
document and spreadsheet works fine on my Win XP Pro 64 system...

The spreadsheet is a simple single sheet workbook with 10 columns and 9
rows, although I have tried it with more complex multi-sheet workbooks,
with
the same results. In fact, I can't get it to open ANY kind of data
source.

Any ideas?

Hopefully,
Tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.


  #3   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
Tom Koski Tom Koski is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default Word 2007 - "word was unable to open the data source"

First of all, after a week of fighting with this with three different
documents, this morning it works fine... after I checked to make sure that
the ACE provider was indeed installed.

Same document, same source, different day. No reboot, no updates. Arrgh.

In any event, thanks for the reply.

In Puzzlement,
tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.


"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I don't know much about Vista 64 Enterprise, but I understand that it is
"optimised for security" in various ways. I wonder whether on that system,
the ACE (Access) OLE DB provider that Word would normally use to open an
Excel workbook is actually installed, or disabled in some way. (I find that
slightly difficult to believe if Access is installed, but I suppose it is
possible). That said, Word should then "fall back" to using ODBC (even less
likely to be installed) and then DDE (which might also be disabled, or even
absent, in that configuration). You could see if the ACE provider is there
by going to Word Select Recipients-Use existing list-New Source, select
other/Advanced, click Next, and see if the ACE provider is listed.

A simple test to ensure that it isn't simply /all/ Mail merge data sources
that fail would be to copy/paste your Excel table into a Word document, save
and close, then try to use that as the data source. Or just create a small
table in an empty Word document with a row contaiining column headers and a
few rows of data, and try to use that.


--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
This is the only error I get when trying to open an excel data source in
Word
2007 mailmerge document. This is a Vista Enterprise 64 system - the same
document and spreadsheet works fine on my Win XP Pro 64 system...

The spreadsheet is a simple single sheet workbook with 10 columns and 9
rows, although I have tried it with more complex multi-sheet workbooks,
with
the same results. In fact, I can't get it to open ANY kind of data
source.

Any ideas?

Hopefully,
Tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.



  #4   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
Peter Jamieson Peter Jamieson is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,582
Default Word 2007 - "word was unable to open the data source"

I suppose it's just possible that even just checking was enough to cause
something to be enabled/installed on demand, all that kind of stuff.

--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
First of all, after a week of fighting with this with three different
documents, this morning it works fine... after I checked to make sure that
the ACE provider was indeed installed.

Same document, same source, different day. No reboot, no updates. Arrgh.

In any event, thanks for the reply.

In Puzzlement,
tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.


"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I don't know much about Vista 64 Enterprise, but I understand that it is
"optimised for security" in various ways. I wonder whether on that
system,
the ACE (Access) OLE DB provider that Word would normally use to open an
Excel workbook is actually installed, or disabled in some way. (I find
that
slightly difficult to believe if Access is installed, but I suppose it is
possible). That said, Word should then "fall back" to using ODBC (even
less
likely to be installed) and then DDE (which might also be disabled, or
even
absent, in that configuration). You could see if the ACE provider is
there
by going to Word Select Recipients-Use existing list-New Source, select
other/Advanced, click Next, and see if the ACE provider is listed.

A simple test to ensure that it isn't simply /all/ Mail merge data
sources
that fail would be to copy/paste your Excel table into a Word document,
save
and close, then try to use that as the data source. Or just create a
small
table in an empty Word document with a row contaiining column headers and
a
few rows of data, and try to use that.


--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
This is the only error I get when trying to open an excel data source
in
Word
2007 mailmerge document. This is a Vista Enterprise 64 system - the
same
document and spreadsheet works fine on my Win XP Pro 64 system...

The spreadsheet is a simple single sheet workbook with 10 columns and 9
rows, although I have tried it with more complex multi-sheet workbooks,
with
the same results. In fact, I can't get it to open ANY kind of data
source.

Any ideas?

Hopefully,
Tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.




  #5   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
Tom Koski Tom Koski is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default Word 2007 - "word was unable to open the data source"

OK - real wierdness here - if I copy the file to OfficeLive and open it from
there and save it locally again, mailmerge breaks. If I start with the
original file, it works. Seems that something in the OfficeLive
storage/retreival process breaks it...

Ahh, the mysteries of Office. Some things never change. (A user since
version 2 -and list numbering still does not work intuitively).

Thought I would let you know.

Thanks,
tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.


"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I suppose it's just possible that even just checking was enough to cause
something to be enabled/installed on demand, all that kind of stuff.

--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
First of all, after a week of fighting with this with three different
documents, this morning it works fine... after I checked to make sure that
the ACE provider was indeed installed.

Same document, same source, different day. No reboot, no updates. Arrgh.

In any event, thanks for the reply.

In Puzzlement,
tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.


"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I don't know much about Vista 64 Enterprise, but I understand that it is
"optimised for security" in various ways. I wonder whether on that
system,
the ACE (Access) OLE DB provider that Word would normally use to open an
Excel workbook is actually installed, or disabled in some way. (I find
that
slightly difficult to believe if Access is installed, but I suppose it is
possible). That said, Word should then "fall back" to using ODBC (even
less
likely to be installed) and then DDE (which might also be disabled, or
even
absent, in that configuration). You could see if the ACE provider is
there
by going to Word Select Recipients-Use existing list-New Source, select
other/Advanced, click Next, and see if the ACE provider is listed.

A simple test to ensure that it isn't simply /all/ Mail merge data
sources
that fail would be to copy/paste your Excel table into a Word document,
save
and close, then try to use that as the data source. Or just create a
small
table in an empty Word document with a row contaiining column headers and
a
few rows of data, and try to use that.


--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
This is the only error I get when trying to open an excel data source
in
Word
2007 mailmerge document. This is a Vista Enterprise 64 system - the
same
document and spreadsheet works fine on my Win XP Pro 64 system...

The spreadsheet is a simple single sheet workbook with 10 columns and 9
rows, although I have tried it with more complex multi-sheet workbooks,
with
the same results. In fact, I can't get it to open ANY kind of data
source.

Any ideas?

Hopefully,
Tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.






  #6   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
Peter Jamieson Peter Jamieson is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,582
Default Word 2007 - "word was unable to open the data source"

Ahh, the mysteries of Office. Some things never change. (A user since
version 2 -and list numbering still does not work intuitively).


Quite!

In my view there seems to be a lot of security-related weirdness these days,
but I have no idea if this is a sample. I wonder if round-tripping a
"compatibility mode" Word 97-2003 format .doc works better in your scenario?
I'm not an OfficeLive user.


--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
OK - real wierdness here - if I copy the file to OfficeLive and open it
from
there and save it locally again, mailmerge breaks. If I start with the
original file, it works. Seems that something in the OfficeLive
storage/retreival process breaks it...

Ahh, the mysteries of Office. Some things never change. (A user since
version 2 -and list numbering still does not work intuitively).

Thought I would let you know.

Thanks,
tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.


"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I suppose it's just possible that even just checking was enough to cause
something to be enabled/installed on demand, all that kind of stuff.

--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
First of all, after a week of fighting with this with three different
documents, this morning it works fine... after I checked to make sure
that
the ACE provider was indeed installed.

Same document, same source, different day. No reboot, no updates.
Arrgh.

In any event, thanks for the reply.

In Puzzlement,
tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.


"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I don't know much about Vista 64 Enterprise, but I understand that it
is
"optimised for security" in various ways. I wonder whether on that
system,
the ACE (Access) OLE DB provider that Word would normally use to open
an
Excel workbook is actually installed, or disabled in some way. (I find
that
slightly difficult to believe if Access is installed, but I suppose it
is
possible). That said, Word should then "fall back" to using ODBC (even
less
likely to be installed) and then DDE (which might also be disabled, or
even
absent, in that configuration). You could see if the ACE provider is
there
by going to Word Select Recipients-Use existing list-New Source,
select
other/Advanced, click Next, and see if the ACE provider is listed.

A simple test to ensure that it isn't simply /all/ Mail merge data
sources
that fail would be to copy/paste your Excel table into a Word
document,
save
and close, then try to use that as the data source. Or just create a
small
table in an empty Word document with a row contaiining column headers
and
a
few rows of data, and try to use that.


--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Tom Koski" wrote in message
...
This is the only error I get when trying to open an excel data
source
in
Word
2007 mailmerge document. This is a Vista Enterprise 64 system - the
same
document and spreadsheet works fine on my Win XP Pro 64 system...

The spreadsheet is a simple single sheet workbook with 10 columns
and 9
rows, although I have tried it with more complex multi-sheet
workbooks,
with
the same results. In fact, I can't get it to open ANY kind of data
source.

Any ideas?

Hopefully,
Tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.





Reply
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What are XML "data stores" and "bindings" in Word 2007? funnybroad Microsoft Word Help 2 February 20th 08 02:13 AM
Word mail merge "Unable to Obtain List of Tables from Data Source" Stephen Ford Mailmerge 10 February 11th 08 07:42 AM
"Can't open data source" STEVE Mailmerge 1 September 22nd 07 12:41 AM
Excel merge into Word:"unable to open data source" STEVE Microsoft Word Help 3 September 21st 07 02:58 PM
Word 2007 "Read-Only" error when changing source data [email protected] Mailmerge 7 June 21st 07 06:16 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:53 PM.

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 Microsoft Office Word Forum - WordBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Microsoft Word"