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#1
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Word 2003 + Access 2003
I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#2
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Display it where?
-- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#3
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
It's a heck of a lot easier to see if you can get him to save his merge
main document as WordProcessingML format (.xml). Otherwise you have the problem where you can't see the data source info. without opening the document with th email merge data source intact, and the only clue you will get is a (truncated, probably) message in the SQL warning box that you tend to get when opening Mail Merge main documents (and in the case of an Access DB, you probably won't get to see the file name at all). OTOH you can try opening the file in Notepad and see if you can spot the connection info - if you can find, e.g. P r o v i d e r (with a space between each letter), that suggests he is using an OLE DB connection and other relevant info. may be visible nearby. But even that is not completely reliable as it could be an artefact, e.g. an older discarded piece of text. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#4
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Thank you Graham and Peter.
I tried the Notepad option but could not find the word P r o v i d e r anywhere or anything that looked like a pathname. I tried the same on one of my own mail merge documents and found it with no trouble. I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, which would not surprise me as they are pretty new to this facility. I will consult with them further. Thanks again for your help. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:21 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: It's a heck of a lot easier to see if you can get him to save his merge main document as WordProcessingML format (.xml). Otherwise you have the problem where you can't see the data source info. without opening the document with th email merge data source intact, and the only clue you will get is a (truncated, probably) message in the SQL warning box that you tend to get when opening Mail Merge main documents (and in the case of an Access DB, you probably won't get to see the file name at all). OTOH you can try opening the file in Notepad and see if you can spot the connection info - if you can find, e.g. P r o v i d e r (with a space between each letter), that suggests he is using an OLE DB connection and other relevant info. may be visible nearby. But even that is not completely reliable as it could be an artefact, e.g. an older discarded piece of text. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#5
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source,
That's not the only possibility, unfortunately - when you do the Notepad thing, it's hit-and-miss because whether you see "P r o v i d e r" or not depends on Notepad happening to start decoding Unicode text at the right point. I should really have suggested that you use Word to try to recover text from any file. To do that in Word 2003, go to File-Open, select "Recover text from any file" in the "Files of Type" dropdown at the bottom, then locate the .doc and open it. You are more likely to see connection info. if there is any (e.g. you could look for "Provider", but it will only be there for a default/OLE DB connection). Even then I wouldn't guarantee thta you will see connection info. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Thank you Graham and Peter. I tried the Notepad option but could not find the word P r o v i d e r anywhere or anything that looked like a pathname. I tried the same on one of my own mail merge documents and found it with no trouble. I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, which would not surprise me as they are pretty new to this facility. I will consult with them further. Thanks again for your help. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:21 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: It's a heck of a lot easier to see if you can get him to save his merge main document as WordProcessingML format (.xml). Otherwise you have the problem where you can't see the data source info. without opening the document with th email merge data source intact, and the only clue you will get is a (truncated, probably) message in the SQL warning box that you tend to get when opening Mail Merge main documents (and in the case of an Access DB, you probably won't get to see the file name at all). OTOH you can try opening the file in Notepad and see if you can spot the connection info - if you can find, e.g. P r o v i d e r (with a space between each letter), that suggests he is using an OLE DB connection and other relevant info. may be visible nearby. But even that is not completely reliable as it could be an artefact, e.g. an older discarded piece of text. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#6
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Hi Peter,
That's very interesting, I have never used that option before. As with the Notepad tests, the Data Source pathname showed up in my test document but not in their mail merge document. Not sure what this proves but I would think it indicates that they have not set up the document correctly. Anyway, I have emailed them with a set of specific instructions on what to do so we will wait and see what they come up with. Thanks again for your assistance with this. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:01:08 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, That's not the only possibility, unfortunately - when you do the Notepad thing, it's hit-and-miss because whether you see "P r o v i d e r" or not depends on Notepad happening to start decoding Unicode text at the right point. I should really have suggested that you use Word to try to recover text from any file. To do that in Word 2003, go to File-Open, select "Recover text from any file" in the "Files of Type" dropdown at the bottom, then locate the .doc and open it. You are more likely to see connection info. if there is any (e.g. you could look for "Provider", but it will only be there for a default/OLE DB connection). Even then I wouldn't guarantee thta you will see connection info. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Thank you Graham and Peter. I tried the Notepad option but could not find the word P r o v i d e r anywhere or anything that looked like a pathname. I tried the same on one of my own mail merge documents and found it with no trouble. I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, which would not surprise me as they are pretty new to this facility. I will consult with them further. Thanks again for your help. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:21 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: It's a heck of a lot easier to see if you can get him to save his merge main document as WordProcessingML format (.xml). Otherwise you have the problem where you can't see the data source info. without opening the document with th email merge data source intact, and the only clue you will get is a (truncated, probably) message in the SQL warning box that you tend to get when opening Mail Merge main documents (and in the case of an Access DB, you probably won't get to see the file name at all). OTOH you can try opening the file in Notepad and see if you can spot the connection info - if you can find, e.g. P r o v i d e r (with a space between each letter), that suggests he is using an OLE DB connection and other relevant info. may be visible nearby. But even that is not completely reliable as it could be an artefact, e.g. an older discarded piece of text. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#7
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Not sure what this
proves Not a lot, but... but I would think it indicates that they have not set up the document correctly. ....seems as good a starting point as any. I suppose it's always worth checking that you're not suffering from the problem described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825765 Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Hi Peter, That's very interesting, I have never used that option before. As with the Notepad tests, the Data Source pathname showed up in my test document but not in their mail merge document. Not sure what this proves but I would think it indicates that they have not set up the document correctly. Anyway, I have emailed them with a set of specific instructions on what to do so we will wait and see what they come up with. Thanks again for your assistance with this. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:01:08 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, That's not the only possibility, unfortunately - when you do the Notepad thing, it's hit-and-miss because whether you see "P r o v i d e r" or not depends on Notepad happening to start decoding Unicode text at the right point. I should really have suggested that you use Word to try to recover text from any file. To do that in Word 2003, go to File-Open, select "Recover text from any file" in the "Files of Type" dropdown at the bottom, then locate the .doc and open it. You are more likely to see connection info. if there is any (e.g. you could look for "Provider", but it will only be there for a default/OLE DB connection). Even then I wouldn't guarantee thta you will see connection info. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Thank you Graham and Peter. I tried the Notepad option but could not find the word P r o v i d e r anywhere or anything that looked like a pathname. I tried the same on one of my own mail merge documents and found it with no trouble. I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, which would not surprise me as they are pretty new to this facility. I will consult with them further. Thanks again for your help. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:21 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: It's a heck of a lot easier to see if you can get him to save his merge main document as WordProcessingML format (.xml). Otherwise you have the problem where you can't see the data source info. without opening the document with th email merge data source intact, and the only clue you will get is a (truncated, probably) message in the SQL warning box that you tend to get when opening Mail Merge main documents (and in the case of an Access DB, you probably won't get to see the file name at all). OTOH you can try opening the file in Notepad and see if you can spot the connection info - if you can find, e.g. P r o v i d e r (with a space between each letter), that suggests he is using an OLE DB connection and other relevant info. may be visible nearby. But even that is not completely reliable as it could be an artefact, e.g. an older discarded piece of text. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#8
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Peter,
Yes, I am aware of that problem and I did send them a .reg file which makes the Registry mods recommended. This may be another thing they haven't done yet, we will see tomorrow. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:12:54 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: Not sure what this proves Not a lot, but... but I would think it indicates that they have not set up the document correctly. ...seems as good a starting point as any. I suppose it's always worth checking that you're not suffering from the problem described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825765 Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Hi Peter, That's very interesting, I have never used that option before. As with the Notepad tests, the Data Source pathname showed up in my test document but not in their mail merge document. Not sure what this proves but I would think it indicates that they have not set up the document correctly. Anyway, I have emailed them with a set of specific instructions on what to do so we will wait and see what they come up with. Thanks again for your assistance with this. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:01:08 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, That's not the only possibility, unfortunately - when you do the Notepad thing, it's hit-and-miss because whether you see "P r o v i d e r" or not depends on Notepad happening to start decoding Unicode text at the right point. I should really have suggested that you use Word to try to recover text from any file. To do that in Word 2003, go to File-Open, select "Recover text from any file" in the "Files of Type" dropdown at the bottom, then locate the .doc and open it. You are more likely to see connection info. if there is any (e.g. you could look for "Provider", but it will only be there for a default/OLE DB connection). Even then I wouldn't guarantee thta you will see connection info. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Thank you Graham and Peter. I tried the Notepad option but could not find the word P r o v i d e r anywhere or anything that looked like a pathname. I tried the same on one of my own mail merge documents and found it with no trouble. I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, which would not surprise me as they are pretty new to this facility. I will consult with them further. Thanks again for your help. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:21 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: It's a heck of a lot easier to see if you can get him to save his merge main document as WordProcessingML format (.xml). Otherwise you have the problem where you can't see the data source info. without opening the document with th email merge data source intact, and the only clue you will get is a (truncated, probably) message in the SQL warning box that you tend to get when opening Mail Merge main documents (and in the case of an Access DB, you probably won't get to see the file name at all). OTOH you can try opening the file in Notepad and see if you can spot the connection info - if you can find, e.g. P r o v i d e r (with a space between each letter), that suggests he is using an OLE DB connection and other relevant info. may be visible nearby. But even that is not completely reliable as it could be an artefact, e.g. an older discarded piece of text. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#9
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Why don't you try something like Mikogo (www.mikogo.com) to take a look at
their computer and see what is going on? -- 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, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com "Peter Hibbs" wrote in message news Peter, Yes, I am aware of that problem and I did send them a .reg file which makes the Registry mods recommended. This may be another thing they haven't done yet, we will see tomorrow. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:12:54 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: Not sure what this proves Not a lot, but... but I would think it indicates that they have not set up the document correctly. ...seems as good a starting point as any. I suppose it's always worth checking that you're not suffering from the problem described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825765 Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Hi Peter, That's very interesting, I have never used that option before. As with the Notepad tests, the Data Source pathname showed up in my test document but not in their mail merge document. Not sure what this proves but I would think it indicates that they have not set up the document correctly. Anyway, I have emailed them with a set of specific instructions on what to do so we will wait and see what they come up with. Thanks again for your assistance with this. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:01:08 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, That's not the only possibility, unfortunately - when you do the Notepad thing, it's hit-and-miss because whether you see "P r o v i d e r" or not depends on Notepad happening to start decoding Unicode text at the right point. I should really have suggested that you use Word to try to recover text from any file. To do that in Word 2003, go to File-Open, select "Recover text from any file" in the "Files of Type" dropdown at the bottom, then locate the .doc and open it. You are more likely to see connection info. if there is any (e.g. you could look for "Provider", but it will only be there for a default/OLE DB connection). Even then I wouldn't guarantee thta you will see connection info. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Thank you Graham and Peter. I tried the Notepad option but could not find the word P r o v i d e r anywhere or anything that looked like a pathname. I tried the same on one of my own mail merge documents and found it with no trouble. I would guess that means they have not even set up a Data Source, which would not surprise me as they are pretty new to this facility. I will consult with them further. Thanks again for your help. Peter Hibbs. On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:21 +0100, Peter Jamieson wrote: It's a heck of a lot easier to see if you can get him to save his merge main document as WordProcessingML format (.xml). Otherwise you have the problem where you can't see the data source info. without opening the document with th email merge data source intact, and the only clue you will get is a (truncated, probably) message in the SQL warning box that you tend to get when opening Mail Merge main documents (and in the case of an Access DB, you probably won't get to see the file name at all). OTOH you can try opening the file in Notepad and see if you can spot the connection info - if you can find, e.g. P r o v i d e r (with a space between each letter), that suggests he is using an OLE DB connection and other relevant info. may be visible nearby. But even that is not completely reliable as it could be an artefact, e.g. an older discarded piece of text. Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk Peter Hibbs wrote: Word 2003 + Access 2003 I have written a database app' for a client which includes some mail merge facilities. The client is having some difficulties setting up the mail merge document and, as he is a 100 miles away, I can't easliy see what he is doing wrong. He has now sent me a copy of his document, is there any way of displaying the full path and filename of the Data Source that he has used as I think that may be his problem. Peter Hibbs. |
#10
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Mail Merge Document Data Source
Thanks Doug,
I might just try that out. I need to talk to my client first though. Peter Hibbs. On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:50:06 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: Why don't you try something like Mikogo (www.mikogo.com) to take a look at their computer and see what is going on? |
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