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#1
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Mail merge process is printing out extra records
We use Access 2003 for our database, and Word 2003 for running mail merges.
I have an access database that users pull information from for their mail merge letters. The problem is that when someone starts going through the mail merge process, and a different user is adding or making changes to the database records, those records that were being updated are printing out in the mail merge letters even though they were not selected. Many users make changes to the database while people use mail merge. So the people doing the mail merge end up getting extra printouts of records they didn't select to print out. How would I go about troubleshooting this issue? Thanks. |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Mail merge process is printing out extra records
I would think that you would have to use a query in access as the means of
selecting the desired records and then use the query as the data source. Even then you will have to come up with some way of making sure that the person who is adding data to the table does not include in that data the information that will cause it to be included in the results of the query. -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Mike" wrote in message ... We use Access 2003 for our database, and Word 2003 for running mail merges. I have an access database that users pull information from for their mail merge letters. The problem is that when someone starts going through the merge process, and a different user is adding or making changes to the database records, those records that were being updated are printing out in the mail merge letters even though they were not selected. Many users make changes to the database while people use mail merge. So the people doing the mail merge end up getting extra printouts of records they didn't select to print out. How would I go about troubleshooting this issue? Thanks. |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Mail merge process is printing out extra records
Is it normal that if you're going through the mail merge process, and someone
makes a change to a record in the database, that the updated record will print out in your mail merge printouts even though you didn't select that record? thanks! "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: I would think that you would have to use a query in access as the means of selecting the desired records and then use the query as the data source. Even then you will have to come up with some way of making sure that the person who is adding data to the table does not include in that data the information that will cause it to be included in the results of the query. -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Mike" wrote in message ... We use Access 2003 for our database, and Word 2003 for running mail merges. I have an access database that users pull information from for their mail merge letters. The problem is that when someone starts going through the merge process, and a different user is adding or making changes to the database records, those records that were being updated are printing out in the mail merge letters even though they were not selected. Many users make changes to the database while people use mail merge. So the people doing the mail merge end up getting extra printouts of records they didn't select to print out. How would I go about troubleshooting this issue? Thanks. |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Mail merge process is printing out extra records
FWIW I can easily replicate this problem here with some simple test data.
What to do about it is a different question... Word will certainly eventually see new records that conform to any filter you have defined. e. g. a. in Word, I select all records in table t where f='paper' b. in Access, I add a record and set f to 'paper' c. in Word, I use the arrow keys in the mail merge toolbar to navigate to the last record d. the new record appears. e. in the new record, I change 'paper' to 'scissors' f. in Word, I navigate away from the record that now contains scissors, then back again. Word still sees the record despite the fact that it now displays field f as 'scissors' g. FWIW if you open the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box you also see this record. If you click Refresh, it disappears. I do not know whether this behaviour is a direct result of the way the OLEDB provider works, or a result of the way that Word configures or uses the provider, or what. It is possible to change some of the properties Word uses when it connects to a Jet database by specifying properties in a .odc (or maybe .udl) file, but (for example) changing the open mode to Read doesn't do the trick - I suspect the only thing that might would be to change the type of cursor used, and I do not know if it is possible to specify that in a connection string: I don't think so. However, what does seem to work, at least in the simple test scenario I have here, is to use an ODBC connection instead of an OLEDB one (check Word Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversions at open", go through the connection process again, and select the ODBC option when it is offered). However, a. Word won't see Unicode format data via an ODBC connection b. the data in some field types (e.g. date time and yesno fields) is returned in a different format when you use ODBC. Wish it was simpler... Peter Jamieson "Mike" wrote in message ... Is it normal that if you're going through the mail merge process, and someone makes a change to a record in the database, that the updated record will print out in your mail merge printouts even though you didn't select that record? thanks! "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: I would think that you would have to use a query in access as the means of selecting the desired records and then use the query as the data source. Even then you will have to come up with some way of making sure that the person who is adding data to the table does not include in that data the information that will cause it to be included in the results of the query. -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Mike" wrote in message ... We use Access 2003 for our database, and Word 2003 for running mail merges. I have an access database that users pull information from for their merge letters. The problem is that when someone starts going through the merge process, and a different user is adding or making changes to the database records, those records that were being updated are printing out in the mail merge letters even though they were not selected. Many users make changes to the database while people use mail merge. So the people doing the mail merge end up getting extra printouts of records they didn't select to print out. How would I go about troubleshooting this issue? Thanks. |
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