[sashaburg]

I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?

[Peter Jamieson]

I was able to replicate some aspects of this problem as follows:
a. create an Excel source with 3 columns
b. create a Word mail merge main document and select the excel sheet
as the data source
c. using query options to sort on columns 2 and 3
d. save and close the Word file
e. rename column 3 and save and close the Excel sheet
f. re-open the Word document.

At that point I get the message you see. I would guess it is the same
for Word data sources. Then Word "cannot find" its data source. However,
at that point I was able to locate the data source manually. Word had
removed /all/ sort info. So I am not sure which particular problem you
are encountering. Is it:
a. you simply cannot open the Word document, so you cannot fix it?
b. you can open the Word document, but you cannot connect /any/ data
source?
c. you can connect a data source but you really need to know what the
sort sequence was, and that info is already lost?
d. you can do everything you need but when you close and re-open the
Word document, you get the same problem al over again
e. something else...?

If it's (b) or (d), I would suggest that you use the Data Merge Manager
to Restore the mail merge main document to being a Normal Word Document,
then save and close it, then re-open, and try again. You'll lose sorts
and filters. (That's purely a guess based on the behaviour of Windows
versions of Word, but there could be a similar problem on Mac).

Not sure what you could do about the other problems.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 14:16, sashaburg wrote:
I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?

[sashaburg]

I have my Word document, and go to the Data Merge Manager palette to merge
data. I find the file I want to use to merge, then get that error message
about outdated sorting information. I click the ok button - there's no other
option - and that's all that happens. There is no merge data. I do have my
form fields labeled, but I can't seem to get Word to get past the problem to
merge the data. There is no preview - all options there are grayed out. Same
for the Merge options, all grayed out. This is after saving & reopening the
file as you recommended. Under Data Source, it does list the file I am
referencing. So it sees the path, just won't go on it.

What would make the sorting information outdated? This was a newly created
document, so it's not from an old version of Excel.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I was able to replicate some aspects of this problem as follows:
a. create an Excel source with 3 columns
b. create a Word mail merge main document and select the excel sheet
as the data source
c. using query options to sort on columns 2 and 3
d. save and close the Word file
e. rename column 3 and save and close the Excel sheet
f. re-open the Word document.

At that point I get the message you see. I would guess it is the same
for Word data sources. Then Word "cannot find" its data source. However,
at that point I was able to locate the data source manually. Word had
removed /all/ sort info. So I am not sure which particular problem you
are encountering. Is it:
a. you simply cannot open the Word document, so you cannot fix it?
b. you can open the Word document, but you cannot connect /any/ data
source?
c. you can connect a data source but you really need to know what the
sort sequence was, and that info is already lost?
d. you can do everything you need but when you close and re-open the
Word document, you get the same problem al over again
e. something else...?

If it's (b) or (d), I would suggest that you use the Data Merge Manager
to Restore the mail merge main document to being a Normal Word Document,
then save and close it, then re-open, and try again. You'll lose sorts
and filters. (That's purely a guess based on the behaviour of Windows
versions of Word, but there could be a similar problem on Mac).

Not sure what you could do about the other problems.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 14:16, sashaburg wrote:
I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?
.

[Peter Jamieson]

My best guess is that the Word document is now corrupted.

What if you start with a completely new document? Do you still get the
problem? (If the normal.dot template is also corrupted, that might also
be a problem).

I'm going to cross-post this to the mac word group in case someone there
has come across this one before.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 16:30, sashaburg wrote:
I have my Word document, and go to the Data Merge Manager palette to merge
data. I find the file I want to use to merge, then get that error message
about outdated sorting information. I click the ok button - there's no other
option - and that's all that happens. There is no merge data. I do have my
form fields labeled, but I can't seem to get Word to get past the problem to
merge the data. There is no preview - all options there are grayed out. Same
for the Merge options, all grayed out. This is after saving& reopening the
file as you recommended. Under Data Source, it does list the file I am
referencing. So it sees the path, just won't go on it.

What would make the sorting information outdated? This was a newly created
document, so it's not from an old version of Excel.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I was able to replicate some aspects of this problem as follows:
a. create an Excel source with 3 columns
b. create a Word mail merge main document and select the excel sheet
as the data source
c. using query options to sort on columns 2 and 3
d. save and close the Word file
e. rename column 3 and save and close the Excel sheet
f. re-open the Word document.

At that point I get the message you see. I would guess it is the same
for Word data sources. Then Word "cannot find" its data source. However,
at that point I was able to locate the data source manually. Word had
removed /all/ sort info. So I am not sure which particular problem you
are encountering. Is it:
a. you simply cannot open the Word document, so you cannot fix it?
b. you can open the Word document, but you cannot connect /any/ data
source?
c. you can connect a data source but you really need to know what the
sort sequence was, and that info is already lost?
d. you can do everything you need but when you close and re-open the
Word document, you get the same problem al over again
e. something else...?

If it's (b) or (d), I would suggest that you use the Data Merge Manager
to Restore the mail merge main document to being a Normal Word Document,
then save and close it, then re-open, and try again. You'll lose sorts
and filters. (That's purely a guess based on the behaviour of Windows
versions of Word, but there could be a similar problem on Mac).

Not sure what you could do about the other problems.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 14:16, sashaburg wrote:
I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?
.

[sashaburg]

Yes, I tried this with a new document as well as the saved doc. I also opened
up the Excel file in InDesign, saw there were some quotes around some of the
data, which I removed in the Excel file. Still had the error message.

I think I could type and paste this in faster than work in Word....



"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

My best guess is that the Word document is now corrupted.

What if you start with a completely new document? Do you still get the
problem? (If the normal.dot template is also corrupted, that might also
be a problem).

I'm going to cross-post this to the mac word group in case someone there
has come across this one before.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 16:30, sashaburg wrote:
I have my Word document, and go to the Data Merge Manager palette to merge
data. I find the file I want to use to merge, then get that error message
about outdated sorting information. I click the ok button - there's no other
option - and that's all that happens. There is no merge data. I do have my
form fields labeled, but I can't seem to get Word to get past the problem to
merge the data. There is no preview - all options there are grayed out. Same
for the Merge options, all grayed out. This is after saving& reopening the
file as you recommended. Under Data Source, it does list the file I am
referencing. So it sees the path, just won't go on it.

What would make the sorting information outdated? This was a newly created
document, so it's not from an old version of Excel.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I was able to replicate some aspects of this problem as follows:
a. create an Excel source with 3 columns
b. create a Word mail merge main document and select the excel sheet
as the data source
c. using query options to sort on columns 2 and 3
d. save and close the Word file
e. rename column 3 and save and close the Excel sheet
f. re-open the Word document.

At that point I get the message you see. I would guess it is the same
for Word data sources. Then Word "cannot find" its data source. However,
at that point I was able to locate the data source manually. Word had
removed /all/ sort info. So I am not sure which particular problem you
are encountering. Is it:
a. you simply cannot open the Word document, so you cannot fix it?
b. you can open the Word document, but you cannot connect /any/ data
source?
c. you can connect a data source but you really need to know what the
sort sequence was, and that info is already lost?
d. you can do everything you need but when you close and re-open the
Word document, you get the same problem al over again
e. something else...?

If it's (b) or (d), I would suggest that you use the Data Merge Manager
to Restore the mail merge main document to being a Normal Word Document,
then save and close it, then re-open, and try again. You'll lose sorts
and filters. (That's purely a guess based on the behaviour of Windows
versions of Word, but there could be a similar problem on Mac).

Not sure what you could do about the other problems.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 14:16, sashaburg wrote:
I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?
.

.

[Peter Jamieson]

I think I could type and paste this in faster than work in Word....

Then that's probably your best bet, short term. But if you haven't
already done that, it may be worth
a. repairing your disks
(see e.g. http://word.mvps.org/mac/diskissues.html )
b. ensuring your Wrd installation is up to date
c. recreating your normal.dot as per

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/MacWordNormal.html

Also, if you despam my email
pjj at pjjnet dot demon dot co dot uk

and email me the document (and preferably a test data document) I may be
able to replicate the problem here.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 21:37, sashaburg wrote:
Yes, I tried this with a new document as well as the saved doc. I also opened
up the Excel file in InDesign, saw there were some quotes around some of the
data, which I removed in the Excel file. Still had the error message.

I think I could type and paste this in faster than work in Word....



"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

My best guess is that the Word document is now corrupted.

What if you start with a completely new document? Do you still get the
problem? (If the normal.dot template is also corrupted, that might also
be a problem).

I'm going to cross-post this to the mac word group in case someone there
has come across this one before.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 16:30, sashaburg wrote:
I have my Word document, and go to the Data Merge Manager palette to merge
data. I find the file I want to use to merge, then get that error message
about outdated sorting information. I click the ok button - there's no other
option - and that's all that happens. There is no merge data. I do have my
form fields labeled, but I can't seem to get Word to get past the problem to
merge the data. There is no preview - all options there are grayed out. Same
for the Merge options, all grayed out. This is after saving& reopening the
file as you recommended. Under Data Source, it does list the file I am
referencing. So it sees the path, just won't go on it.

What would make the sorting information outdated? This was a newly created
document, so it's not from an old version of Excel.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I was able to replicate some aspects of this problem as follows:
a. create an Excel source with 3 columns
b. create a Word mail merge main document and select the excel sheet
as the data source
c. using query options to sort on columns 2 and 3
d. save and close the Word file
e. rename column 3 and save and close the Excel sheet
f. re-open the Word document.

At that point I get the message you see. I would guess it is the same
for Word data sources. Then Word "cannot find" its data source. However,
at that point I was able to locate the data source manually. Word had
removed /all/ sort info. So I am not sure which particular problem you
are encountering. Is it:
a. you simply cannot open the Word document, so you cannot fix it?
b. you can open the Word document, but you cannot connect /any/ data
source?
c. you can connect a data source but you really need to know what the
sort sequence was, and that info is already lost?
d. you can do everything you need but when you close and re-open the
Word document, you get the same problem al over again
e. something else...?

If it's (b) or (d), I would suggest that you use the Data Merge Manager
to Restore the mail merge main document to being a Normal Word Document,
then save and close it, then re-open, and try again. You'll lose sorts
and filters. (That's purely a guess based on the behaviour of Windows
versions of Word, but there could be a similar problem on Mac).

Not sure what you could do about the other problems.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 14:16, sashaburg wrote:
I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?
.

.

[sashaburg]

Thanks for the offer, Peter, but my husband got tired of trying it on his
Windows system and just went ahead and set it up in WordPerfect. Took him
about 10 minutes.

Happy Holidays!

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I think I could type and paste this in faster than work in Word....

Then that's probably your best bet, short term. But if you haven't
already done that, it may be worth
a. repairing your disks
(see e.g. http://word.mvps.org/mac/diskissues.html )
b. ensuring your Wrd installation is up to date
c. recreating your normal.dot as per

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/MacWordNormal.html

Also, if you despam my email
pjj at pjjnet dot demon dot co dot uk

and email me the document (and preferably a test data document) I may be
able to replicate the problem here.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 21:37, sashaburg wrote:
Yes, I tried this with a new document as well as the saved doc. I also opened
up the Excel file in InDesign, saw there were some quotes around some of the
data, which I removed in the Excel file. Still had the error message.

I think I could type and paste this in faster than work in Word....



"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

My best guess is that the Word document is now corrupted.

What if you start with a completely new document? Do you still get the
problem? (If the normal.dot template is also corrupted, that might also
be a problem).

I'm going to cross-post this to the mac word group in case someone there
has come across this one before.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 16:30, sashaburg wrote:
I have my Word document, and go to the Data Merge Manager palette to merge
data. I find the file I want to use to merge, then get that error message
about outdated sorting information. I click the ok button - there's no other
option - and that's all that happens. There is no merge data. I do have my
form fields labeled, but I can't seem to get Word to get past the problem to
merge the data. There is no preview - all options there are grayed out. Same
for the Merge options, all grayed out. This is after saving& reopening the
file as you recommended. Under Data Source, it does list the file I am
referencing. So it sees the path, just won't go on it.

What would make the sorting information outdated? This was a newly created
document, so it's not from an old version of Excel.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I was able to replicate some aspects of this problem as follows:
a. create an Excel source with 3 columns
b. create a Word mail merge main document and select the excel sheet
as the data source
c. using query options to sort on columns 2 and 3
d. save and close the Word file
e. rename column 3 and save and close the Excel sheet
f. re-open the Word document.

At that point I get the message you see. I would guess it is the same
for Word data sources. Then Word "cannot find" its data source. However,
at that point I was able to locate the data source manually. Word had
removed /all/ sort info. So I am not sure which particular problem you
are encountering. Is it:
a. you simply cannot open the Word document, so you cannot fix it?
b. you can open the Word document, but you cannot connect /any/ data
source?
c. you can connect a data source but you really need to know what the
sort sequence was, and that info is already lost?
d. you can do everything you need but when you close and re-open the
Word document, you get the same problem al over again
e. something else...?

If it's (b) or (d), I would suggest that you use the Data Merge Manager
to Restore the mail merge main document to being a Normal Word Document,
then save and close it, then re-open, and try again. You'll lose sorts
and filters. (That's purely a guess based on the behaviour of Windows
versions of Word, but there could be a similar problem on Mac).

Not sure what you could do about the other problems.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 14:16, sashaburg wrote:
I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?
.

.

.

[John McGhie]

If it takes you a tenth of that time in Mac Word, there's a serious user
problem there somewhere :-)

In Mac Word, it's about five clicks to do this. You've got a problem with
your files, which Peter offered to help you with, if you send them to him.

Cheers


On 25/12/09 6:26 AM, in article
, "sashaburg"
wrote:

Thanks for the offer, Peter, but my husband got tired of trying it on his
Windows system and just went ahead and set it up in WordPerfect. Took him
about 10 minutes.

Happy Holidays!

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I think I could type and paste this in faster than work in Word....

Then that's probably your best bet, short term. But if you haven't
already done that, it may be worth
a. repairing your disks
(see e.g. http://word.mvps.org/mac/diskissues.html )
b. ensuring your Wrd installation is up to date
c. recreating your normal.dot as per

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/MacWordNormal.html

Also, if you despam my email
pjj at pjjnet dot demon dot co dot uk

and email me the document (and preferably a test data document) I may be
able to replicate the problem here.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 21:37, sashaburg wrote:
Yes, I tried this with a new document as well as the saved doc. I also
opened
up the Excel file in InDesign, saw there were some quotes around some of
the
data, which I removed in the Excel file. Still had the error message.

I think I could type and paste this in faster than work in Word....



"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

My best guess is that the Word document is now corrupted.

What if you start with a completely new document? Do you still get the
problem? (If the normal.dot template is also corrupted, that might also
be a problem).

I'm going to cross-post this to the mac word group in case someone there
has come across this one before.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 16:30, sashaburg wrote:
I have my Word document, and go to the Data Merge Manager palette to merge
data. I find the file I want to use to merge, then get that error message
about outdated sorting information. I click the ok button - there's no
other
option - and that's all that happens. There is no merge data. I do have my
form fields labeled, but I can't seem to get Word to get past the problem
to
merge the data. There is no preview - all options there are grayed out.
Same
for the Merge options, all grayed out. This is after saving& reopening
the
file as you recommended. Under Data Source, it does list the file I am
referencing. So it sees the path, just won't go on it.

What would make the sorting information outdated? This was a newly created
document, so it's not from an old version of Excel.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I was able to replicate some aspects of this problem as follows:
a. create an Excel source with 3 columns
b. create a Word mail merge main document and select the excel sheet
as the data source
c. using query options to sort on columns 2 and 3
d. save and close the Word file
e. rename column 3 and save and close the Excel sheet
f. re-open the Word document.

At that point I get the message you see. I would guess it is the same
for Word data sources. Then Word "cannot find" its data source. However,
at that point I was able to locate the data source manually. Word had
removed /all/ sort info. So I am not sure which particular problem you
are encountering. Is it:
a. you simply cannot open the Word document, so you cannot fix it?
b. you can open the Word document, but you cannot connect /any/ data
source?
c. you can connect a data source but you really need to know what the
sort sequence was, and that info is already lost?
d. you can do everything you need but when you close and re-open the
Word document, you get the same problem al over again
e. something else...?

If it's (b) or (d), I would suggest that you use the Data Merge Manager
to Restore the mail merge main document to being a Normal Word Document,
then save and close it, then re-open, and try again. You'll lose sorts
and filters. (That's purely a guess based on the behaviour of Windows
versions of Word, but there could be a similar problem on Mac).

Not sure what you could do about the other problems.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 21/12/2009 14:16, sashaburg wrote:
I'm tryiing to create labels in Word 2004 Mac from an Excel 2004 mac
spreadsheet. When I go to locate the Excel file, I get an error message
that
the merge document contains outdated sorting information, and Word is
removing it. At this point I'm stuck, there's no data left to merge and
I
don't know what the outdated sorting info is. How can I get this to
work?
I've tried resaving the Excel file as .txt. .cse and .xls. Are there any
other options I don't know about?
.

.

.


--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410,