Well, the problem is now fixed. And we didn't do anything to fix it. My
guess is that MS broke something with an update in the past few months,
realized what they broke, and then fixed it with a more recent update. What
a mess.
Thanks for your help.
"Cindy M -WordMVP-" wrote in message
news:VA.0000a4e5.0100aba4@speedy...
: Hi Jeni,
:
: I'd say, pursuing your system admins is the best course. From the sound of
it,
: something has been radically changed in how Windows is configured, if this
is
: really happening on all machines. One possible culprit to check, right
away -
: especially since you say "Low" macro security is working - would be
anti-virus
: software, such as the Norton Office Plug-in.
:
: If you're allowed to boot Windows in SAFE MODE, try that and see if the
: problem goes away. If it does, this would further support the thesis that
: something in the Windows configuration is at fault.
:
: And for the meantime, until this gets fixed, I'm afraid you're stuck with
: merging "via converter" or with ODBC. For existing documents, you might
try
: using Insert/File to bring them into a new document. That should drop the
mail
: merge connection (and, unfortunately, headers, footers, margins, etc.) so
that
: you can get to the document content and link up using one of the other
: methods.
:
: Actually, I should have been more specific about the problem I'm having.
(Be
: sure to read the whole post before even thinking about responding.
Taking
: the time to type this and articulate the problems points me to an evil
DDE
: problem. But I don't even know what DDE is.) The problem occurs when I
open
: a document created via merge to Word using data from Excel. The data in
: Excel was in a named range. The data is merged via a macro that has
recorded
: the steps of the merge.
:
: Depending on my security settings, I have the option to enable or
disable
: macros. If I choose Disable, Excel launches, with no documents opened,
and
: Word churns forever, no end in sight. I get an hourglass with this
message
: in the status bar:
: Starting Microsoft Excel
: There is nothing to do at this point but endtask Word. Word is not
pegging
: the CPU at all during this time.
:
: If I choose Enable, Excel launches and Word hangs with this in the
status
: bar:
: Waiting for Microsoft Excel to Accept DDE Commands
: This, too, churns forever. There is nothing to do at this point but
endtask
: Word.
:
: The person who uses/creates these documents has Macro security set to
Low,
: so is not prompted. The behavior on his machine is the same as when I
choose
: Enable. I don't think that the Macro is related but am trying to be as
: thorough in my description as possible.
:
: So, I cannot open these files. At all. In Excel, Ignore Other
Applications
: is *not* checked. I enabled "Confirm Conversion at Open" in Word, but
this
: had no effect, no change to the symptoms.
:
: I really hope you can shed some light on this problem. (I don't think
that a
: full reinstall of Windows for the entire company is going to fly very
well.)
: I still need to talk to the sysadmin to find out what, if any, MS or
other
: patches were installed recently. This problem is halting business in
some
: departments.
Merge templates that worked a month ago no longer work.
: We're having to recreate the templates from scratch and change the
: conversion option when creating the template. Because DDE seems to be
just
: broken (any other way of testing it?), we're using "via Converter". See
: this:
:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;212314
:
:
: INSIGHT: Let me explain a little more. If I try to create a new document
: using the Mail merge helper in Word, when I get to the second portion
(Data
: Source) I choose Get Data | Open Data source. I find my Excel
spreadsheet
: and click OK. Excel launches to a blank new document and I see "Waiting
for
: Microsoft Excel to Accept DDE Commands" in the status bar of Word. I'm
dead
: in the water and must endtask Word. If, when opening my data source, I
check
: the Select Method checkbox, and then choose MS Excel Worksheet Via
: Converter, I'm able to merge successfully. If I choose the Select Method
: checkbox and then choose MS Excel Worksheets via DDE, it's toast again.
So,
: it's a DDE problem? But what is DDE? How do I diagnose this more
: specifically? How do I fix it? And if I fix it, will all those documents
be
: open-able again? (Please tell me yes!)
:
: Ok, Cindy, I hope you're ready for this one. :-) Thanks in advance for
you
: wise counsel.
:
:
: Cindy Meister
: INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
:
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
:
http://www.word.mvps.org
:
: This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
: reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)
: