[Richard]

Our firm uses Office 2003 (Access and Word)

We have general database with client and other information that was
programmed by an outside firm.

I created several smaller databases with tables linked to this general db.

We have letters and forms where I want to use the information from these
smaller dbs to do a mail merge.

However, when I create the document and then try to link the recipients to
these smaller dbs, none of the linked tables or queries based on these linked
tables appear in the dialog box as data sources. The only tables and queries
that appear as choices are those tables unique to that smaller db and the
queries based on those tables.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way it is? Is there any
solution as I cannot create the necessary queries in the main db.

Rick

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

One way around the problem would be to change the type of query to a "Make
table query" so that a table with the data is created in the smaller data
base. If the data in the main data base changes, you would then need to
re-run that query to replace/update the table however.

--
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

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Our firm uses Office 2003 (Access and Word)

We have general database with client and other information that was
programmed by an outside firm.

I created several smaller databases with tables linked to this general db.

We have letters and forms where I want to use the information from these
smaller dbs to do a mail merge.

However, when I create the document and then try to link the recipients to
these smaller dbs, none of the linked tables or queries based on these
linked
tables appear in the dialog box as data sources. The only tables and
queries
that appear as choices are those tables unique to that smaller db and the
queries based on those tables.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way it is? Is there any
solution as I cannot create the necessary queries in the main db.

Rick

[Richard]

Thanks Doug. The solution is less than ideal as you note. We would have to
remember to run the query before opening Word to prepare the document. Is
this a situation of which Microsoft is aware and just doesn't care? Our
system worked flawlessly in Office 97. Now we are really stuck. I thought an
upgrade was supposed to improve productivity, not lessen it.

Rick Youngman

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

One way around the problem would be to change the type of query to a "Make
table query" so that a table with the data is created in the smaller data
base. If the data in the main data base changes, you would then need to
re-run that query to replace/update the table however.

--
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

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Our firm uses Office 2003 (Access and Word)

We have general database with client and other information that was
programmed by an outside firm.

I created several smaller databases with tables linked to this general db.

We have letters and forms where I want to use the information from these
smaller dbs to do a mail merge.

However, when I create the document and then try to link the recipients to
these smaller dbs, none of the linked tables or queries based on these
linked
tables appear in the dialog box as data sources. The only tables and
queries
that appear as choices are those tables unique to that smaller db and the
queries based on those tables.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way it is? Is there any
solution as I cannot create the necessary queries in the main db.

Rick

[Graham Mayor]

There were lots of changes to mailmerge between Word 2000 and 2003 - you are
simply coming to the table a little later than most.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Richard wrote:
Thanks Doug. The solution is less than ideal as you note. We would
have to remember to run the query before opening Word to prepare the
document. Is this a situation of which Microsoft is aware and just
doesn't care? Our system worked flawlessly in Office 97. Now we are
really stuck. I thought an upgrade was supposed to improve
productivity, not lessen it.

Rick Youngman

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

One way around the problem would be to change the type of query to a
"Make table query" so that a table with the data is created in the
smaller data base. If the data in the main data base changes, you
would then need to re-run that query to replace/update the table
however.

--
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

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Our firm uses Office 2003 (Access and Word)

We have general database with client and other information that was
programmed by an outside firm.

I created several smaller databases with tables linked to this
general db.

We have letters and forms where I want to use the information from
these smaller dbs to do a mail merge.

However, when I create the document and then try to link the
recipients to these smaller dbs, none of the linked tables or
queries based on these linked
tables appear in the dialog box as data sources. The only tables and
queries
that appear as choices are those tables unique to that smaller db
and the queries based on those tables.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way it is? Is there
any solution as I cannot create the necessary queries in the main
db.

Rick

[Peter Jamieson]

That's interesting, because although I do not see the linked tables here, I
do see queries based on the linked tables (either a simple SELECT * FROM
linked_table_name, or (marginally) more complicated queries based on
multiple linked tables)

That's in the list of tables and queries presented by the OLE DB provider,
which is titled "Select Table" and just shows the tables and queries it
sees, plus "OK" and "Cancel" buttons.

So if that's the dialog box you are seeing and you can't even see the
/queries/, perhaps there is another issue. The usualy reason why you don't
see queries via OLE DB is because they are parameter queries, but there are
other reasons - e.g. I don't think you will normally see queries with the
financial "series" functions in them, or Union queries.

However, if you are seeing a dialog box titled "Select Table" but with a
drop-down showing the database path name, and "Options...", "OK" and Cancel,
then you are seeing the ODBC dialog box. By default in Word 2003 you should
only see that if the OLE DB provider has failed to connect at all, and in
fact I would expect you to see a "Datalink dialog box" in that case, but if
you are seeing the ODBC dialog box you probably won't see any queries at
all - make sure the correct database is listed (if you can - if the pathname
is too long it's difficult to see), then click Options..., check all 4 boxes
in there, and the queries /and/ the links should show up.

You can also choose ODBC by checking Word|Tools|Options|General|"Confirm
conversions at open" - when you go through the data source selection
process, you see an additional dialog box that lets you pick the ODBC
option, as long as a suitable ODBC DSN exists, which by default, it should.
However, there are some gotchas when using ODBC, e.g.:
a. you won't see non-ANSI Unicode characters in the data
b. some of the default formatting (e.g. with date fields) is different from
what you normally see when using OLE DB, and you would typically have to use
Word field formatting switches to fix it.

I agree about the ease of use issue, but unfortunately, we are stuck with
it. I've often been tempted to write a replacement connection routine to try
to make it easier for the users but the trouble with that is that it would
have to be able to do everything Word can do, would have to do it at least
as well, and you also have to incorporate it into Word in a way that seems
at least as seamless to the user as the built-in method. Otherwise, it just
makes things worse. And people such as yourself probably have to be able to
distribute it, quite probably in hostile administrative backgrounds (i.e.
no-one wants to allow additional risks onto their network). Then you have to
support it :-)

Peter Jamieson


"Richard" wrote in message
...
Our firm uses Office 2003 (Access and Word)

We have general database with client and other information that was
programmed by an outside firm.

I created several smaller databases with tables linked to this general db.

We have letters and forms where I want to use the information from these
smaller dbs to do a mail merge.

However, when I create the document and then try to link the recipients to
these smaller dbs, none of the linked tables or queries based on these
linked
tables appear in the dialog box as data sources. The only tables and
queries
that appear as choices are those tables unique to that smaller db and the
queries based on those tables.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way it is? Is there any
solution as I cannot create the necessary queries in the main db.

Rick