I work at a company of about 40 and we are just now experiencing this
problem as well. What a headache! Not only can we not run the merges we've
had set up in the past (that all ran like clockwork) but documents that were
created and populated with merge data are now no longer opening.

What change has occurred? I hope someone can shed some light on this - this
problem is clearly new and very very naughty. Was there an Office update
recently? I will check with my sysadmin to find out if we've done any
updates recently. Otherwise we're running Office 2000 SP3 (9.0.7616) on
Windows 2000 and have been in this environment for at least 2 years now.

At the least, I'm hoping that there will be a way to recover the documents
that are currently un-openable b/c it can't establish a DDE connection.

Someone please help!

Thanks,
Jennifer Q

Jeni, you might do better with this in the group
microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields as that is the topic of their
newsgroup and the mail merge experts frequent that newsgroup.

dixie

"Jeni Q" wrote in message
...
I work at a company of about 40 and we are just now experiencing this
problem as well. What a headache! Not only can we not run the merges we've
had set up in the past (that all ran like clockwork) but documents that
were
created and populated with merge data are now no longer opening.

What change has occurred? I hope someone can shed some light on this -
this
problem is clearly new and very very naughty. Was there an Office update
recently? I will check with my sysadmin to find out if we've done any
updates recently. Otherwise we're running Office 2000 SP3 (9.0.7616) on
Windows 2000 and have been in this environment for at least 2 years now.

At the least, I'm hoping that there will be a way to recover the documents
that are currently un-openable b/c it can't establish a DDE connection.

Someone please help!

Thanks,
Jennifer Q

Whoops, sorry, that is where you are - I was off with the fairies as usual


dixie

"Jeni Q" wrote in message
...
I work at a company of about 40 and we are just now experiencing this
problem as well. What a headache! Not only can we not run the merges we've
had set up in the past (that all ran like clockwork) but documents that
were
created and populated with merge data are now no longer opening.

What change has occurred? I hope someone can shed some light on this -
this
problem is clearly new and very very naughty. Was there an Office update
recently? I will check with my sysadmin to find out if we've done any
updates recently. Otherwise we're running Office 2000 SP3 (9.0.7616) on
Windows 2000 and have been in this environment for at least 2 years now.

At the least, I'm hoping that there will be a way to recover the documents
that are currently un-openable b/c it can't establish a DDE connection.

Someone please help!

Thanks,
Jennifer Q

Fun fun!! :-)

"dixie" wrote in message
...
: Whoops, sorry, that is where you are - I was off with the fairies as usual
:
:
: dixie

Hi Jeni (and Mark),

There are various things that can cause this (see links below). Sometimes,
it's an issue with how Windows is configured on a particular machine. I've
never found a way to exorcise that particular problem (short of reformatting
and reinstalling Windows). You do, however, have the option of connecting
using a different connection method.

In any case, just because Word can't reconnect using DDE doesn't mean that you
can't open the documents at all. There should be an option to open them (while
losing the active connection to the data source), then you can reconnect.

See these articles:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;189259
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;198299
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;813989

I work at a company of about 40 and we are just now experiencing this
problem as well. What a headache! Not only can we not run the merges we've
had set up in the past (that all ran like clockwork) but documents that were
created and populated with merge data are now no longer opening.

What change has occurred? I hope someone can shed some light on this - this
problem is clearly new and very very naughty. Was there an Office update
recently? I will check with my sysadmin to find out if we've done any
updates recently. Otherwise we're running Office 2000 SP3 (9.0.7616) on
Windows 2000 and have been in this environment for at least 2 years now.

At the least, I'm hoping that there will be a way to recover the documents
that are currently un-openable b/c it can't establish a DDE connection.


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 :-)

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.


--Jennifer Dickens



"Cindy M -WordMVP-" wrote in message
news:VA.0000a4bb.005b2ec6@speedy...
: Hi Jeni (and Mark),
:
: There are various things that can cause this (see links below). Sometimes,
: it's an issue with how Windows is configured on a particular machine. I've
: never found a way to exorcise that particular problem (short of
reformatting
: and reinstalling Windows). You do, however, have the option of connecting
: using a different connection method.
:
: In any case, just because Word can't reconnect using DDE doesn't mean that
you
: can't open the documents at all. There should be an option to open them
(while
: losing the active connection to the data source), then you can reconnect.
:
: See these articles:
:
: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;189259
: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;198299
: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;813989
:
: I work at a company of about 40 and we are just now experiencing this
: problem as well. What a headache! Not only can we not run the merges
we've
: had set up in the past (that all ran like clockwork) but documents that
were
: created and populated with merge data are now no longer opening.
:
: What change has occurred? I hope someone can shed some light on this -
this
: problem is clearly new and very very naughty. Was there an Office update
: recently? I will check with my sysadmin to find out if we've done any
: updates recently. Otherwise we're running Office 2000 SP3 (9.0.7616) on
: Windows 2000 and have been in this environment for at least 2 years now.
:
: At the least, I'm hoping that there will be a way to recover the
documents
: that are currently un-openable b/c it can't establish a DDE connection.

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 :-)

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 :-)
:

Hi Jeni,

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 reporting back that the problem "fixed itself". Too bad we have no
idea WHAT was changed, but I'm glad you're all able to work again!

Cindy Meister