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#1
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Fixing Mail Merge header files
I have an appl that automates Word Mail Merge. It was written a long time
ago and it uses a template document that is created and saved with an attached Header file (csv text file) but no attached data source file. It attaches to a generated csv Data Source file at run time. I have clients who have been running this application successfully for many years, but as some convert from Word 2000 (or possibly Word XP) to Office Word 2003, they run into the dreaded "Opening this will run the following SQL command" message. We have considered the knowledgebase article & workaround at http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=825765, but clients are reluctant to fool with the Registry. Likewise they are unhappy with the option of manually opening and resetting the headers in the individual documents because they often have hundreds of these documents. So we are developing a solution using VBScript to automate the steps that need to be done in Word. Here's where my problem is (yes finally!) If I manually open one of these documents, I get the error message, and I found that if I reply YES (to the next error message as well), the document opens with the header file and "something" set as the data source. I see that in Mail Merge helper dialog. That would be fine; I can find out what the header file was, then start the Mail Merge setup all over again. But when I do the Open from vbscript, the document opens without any error message, and with all Mail Merge settings 'erased', as if I answered NO. That doesn't work for me! I need to know what the header dile was. Does anyone have any suggestions? Would one of the options on the Open method help here? I also noticed that if I select the document from Windows explorer and double-click it or specifically use the Open command, it gives me the error message; if I use the Edit command, it opens as it does in vbscript. Thanks for any suggestions... |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Fixing Mail Merge header files
This is not 'fooling with the registry' it is applying a Microsoft
recommended switch to overcome an issue that before the update wasn't included as a security option, so the clients will be no less secure than they were before the security patch was applied to what at worst was only a minuscule risk. *All* software makes changes to the registry - at least this way you know what changes are being made! -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org scw-tzg wrote: I have an appl that automates Word Mail Merge. It was written a long time ago and it uses a template document that is created and saved with an attached Header file (csv text file) but no attached data source file. It attaches to a generated csv Data Source file at run time. I have clients who have been running this application successfully for many years, but as some convert from Word 2000 (or possibly Word XP) to Office Word 2003, they run into the dreaded "Opening this will run the following SQL command" message. We have considered the knowledgebase article & workaround at http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=825765, but clients are reluctant to fool with the Registry. Likewise they are unhappy with the option of manually opening and resetting the headers in the individual documents because they often have hundreds of these documents. So we are developing a solution using VBScript to automate the steps that need to be done in Word. Here's where my problem is (yes finally!) If I manually open one of these documents, I get the error message, and I found that if I reply YES (to the next error message as well), the document opens with the header file and "something" set as the data source. I see that in Mail Merge helper dialog. That would be fine; I can find out what the header file was, then start the Mail Merge setup all over again. But when I do the Open from vbscript, the document opens without any error message, and with all Mail Merge settings 'erased', as if I answered NO. That doesn't work for me! I need to know what the header dile was. Does anyone have any suggestions? Would one of the options on the Open method help here? I also noticed that if I select the document from Windows explorer and double-click it or specifically use the Open command, it gives me the error message; if I use the Edit command, it opens as it does in vbscript. Thanks for any suggestions... |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Fixing Mail Merge header files
Thanks, but when Microsoft includes these 2 warnings (see below) (I always
see the *second* one when the solution involves a change to the registry, but not the first,) it makes SysAdmins cringe. Note that it says "We do not recommend..."; I hardly consider that Microsoft-recommended! Incidentally, do you know how to get past my problem? From kb#825765... *WORKAROUND* *Warning* This workaround may make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk. *Warning* Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk. "Graham Mayor" wrote: This is not 'fooling with the registry' it is applying a Microsoft recommended switch to overcome an issue that before the update wasn't included as a security option, so the clients will be no less secure than they were before the security patch was applied to what at worst was only a minuscule risk. *All* software makes changes to the registry - at least this way you know what changes are being made! -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org scw-tzg wrote: I have an appl that automates Word Mail Merge. It was written a long time ago and it uses a template document that is created and saved with an attached Header file (csv text file) but no attached data source file. It attaches to a generated csv Data Source file at run time. I have clients who have been running this application successfully for many years, but as some convert from Word 2000 (or possibly Word XP) to Office Word 2003, they run into the dreaded "Opening this will run the following SQL command" message. We have considered the knowledgebase article & workaround at http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=825765, but clients are reluctant to fool with the Registry. Likewise they are unhappy with the option of manually opening and resetting the headers in the individual documents because they often have hundreds of these documents. So we are developing a solution using VBScript to automate the steps that need to be done in Word. Here's where my problem is (yes finally!) If I manually open one of these documents, I get the error message, and I found that if I reply YES (to the next error message as well), the document opens with the header file and "something" set as the data source. I see that in Mail Merge helper dialog. That would be fine; I can find out what the header file was, then start the Mail Merge setup all over again. But when I do the Open from vbscript, the document opens without any error message, and with all Mail Merge settings 'erased', as if I answered NO. That doesn't work for me! I need to know what the header dile was. Does anyone have any suggestions? Would one of the options on the Open method help here? I also noticed that if I select the document from Windows explorer and double-click it or specifically use the Open command, it gives me the error message; if I use the Edit command, it opens as it does in vbscript. Thanks for any suggestions... |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
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Fixing Mail Merge header files
There's another conversation in this group going on about this subject,
titled "KB 825765 - just making sure..." that you might find useful, but I don't think it will lead to a solution for you as your requirement is different. Much as I dislike these warnings and the registry fix necessary to get rid of them, I suspect that working around the messages is even harder than making the registry fix and that, unless you can copy everything you need to examine and perhaps modify all the .doc files affected onto a development/test machine so you don't have to take the supposed risk of fixing the registry on a production machine, you won't be able to extract the info. about the existing header files without going opening each .doc manually. In my view, Microsoft's standard warning about registry changes is intended to put off people who are thinking or tinkering with the registry with no real understanding of what they are doing. While I understand the reluctance of administrators to make these changes at all, particularly in the face of these dire warnings, inserting a single value like this one, perhaps using a .reg file, in conditions controlled by the administrators, after experiments that demonstrate that the change is not life-threatening, seems to me to be quite a reasonable thing to do. As for the other warning about malicious software and so on, the probable reason why MS is providing that warning in this case is because when Word opens a header source or data source, it may be using software that is not part of Word, or Office, or even provided by MS. It may for example end up using a Word text converter dll or third aprty OLE DB provider to open the header/data source. Or Word might be opening an Access data source and executing a user-defined query written in Access VBA. It's not hard to write a text converter and it's just a piece of software that can do anything it wants. However, if the administrators are confident that they can keep such stuff off their systems, they have to weigh the two risks. By /not/ making the registry change they are in effect saying that they are not confident that they can keep those specific types of software off their systems. But in that case, what can they prevent? Peter Jamieson "scw-tzg" susan 1DOT wolitz AT trizetto 1DOT com wrote in message news Thanks, but when Microsoft includes these 2 warnings (see below) (I always see the *second* one when the solution involves a change to the registry, but not the first,) it makes SysAdmins cringe. Note that it says "We do not recommend..."; I hardly consider that Microsoft-recommended! Incidentally, do you know how to get past my problem? From kb#825765... *WORKAROUND* *Warning* This workaround may make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk. *Warning* Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk. "Graham Mayor" wrote: This is not 'fooling with the registry' it is applying a Microsoft recommended switch to overcome an issue that before the update wasn't included as a security option, so the clients will be no less secure than they were before the security patch was applied to what at worst was only a minuscule risk. *All* software makes changes to the registry - at least this way you know what changes are being made! -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org scw-tzg wrote: I have an appl that automates Word Mail Merge. It was written a long time ago and it uses a template document that is created and saved with an attached Header file (csv text file) but no attached data source file. It attaches to a generated csv Data Source file at run time. I have clients who have been running this application successfully for many years, but as some convert from Word 2000 (or possibly Word XP) to Office Word 2003, they run into the dreaded "Opening this will run the following SQL command" message. We have considered the knowledgebase article & workaround at http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=825765, but clients are reluctant to fool with the Registry. Likewise they are unhappy with the option of manually opening and resetting the headers in the individual documents because they often have hundreds of these documents. So we are developing a solution using VBScript to automate the steps that need to be done in Word. Here's where my problem is (yes finally!) If I manually open one of these documents, I get the error message, and I found that if I reply YES (to the next error message as well), the document opens with the header file and "something" set as the data source. I see that in Mail Merge helper dialog. That would be fine; I can find out what the header file was, then start the Mail Merge setup all over again. But when I do the Open from vbscript, the document opens without any error message, and with all Mail Merge settings 'erased', as if I answered NO. That doesn't work for me! I need to know what the header dile was. Does anyone have any suggestions? Would one of the options on the Open method help here? I also noticed that if I select the document from Windows explorer and double-click it or specifically use the Open command, it gives me the error message; if I use the Edit command, it opens as it does in vbscript. Thanks for any suggestions... |
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