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Old May 19th, 2004, 01:38 PM
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Default Mail merge data base problems

I got rid of "confirm conversion at open" and it does not
ask for the data source for the .htm version.

Odd.

I will try fiddling around and see if I can change
anything. Maybe I'll try taking the mail merge out,
saving the .dot as .doc and re-merging it, then saving
it. Maybe that will help.


-----Original Message-----
Any other ideas?


None that are likely to lead straight away to The

Answer, but just out of
interest, if you uncheck Word

Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversion at
open", then open the .htm version of the file, does Word

still complain that
it cannot find the data source?

Wow. That is quite neat! I wouldn't have thought of

doing
that.


I got the idea from Cindy Meister.

--
Peter Jamieson

"Rachael" wrote in

message
...
Wow. That is quite neat! I wouldn't have thought of

doing
that.

Here is what I got:

w:MailMergeQueryStringSELECT * FROM C:\Documents

and
Settings\ptorrxc\My Documents\Rachael\Claimant
Information Data Base 2.doc/w:MailMergeQueryString
w:MailMergeDataSource
HRef="C:\Documents and Settings\ptorrxc\My
Documents\Rachael\Claimant Information Data Base
2.doc"/w:MailMergeDataSource

I tried it with both the .doc files and the .dot files
(my government files), and both had the same thing
written.

I tried it with the one and only file I know that does
not ask me for the database each time, and it was the
same as well.

Any other ideas?



-----Original Message-----
Hello Rachael,

OK, we're in danger of talking at cross-purposes here,

so for the moment I'm
not going to try to answer all your questions and

points.

Can you please try to do the following:
a. open one of the documents (.doc) that is connected

to your data source.
Assuming it has lost its data source in the way you

have
described,
reconnect it to the data source. But don't save it,

and
don't do a merge.
b. Click File|Save As, and use the "Save as Type"

drop-
down list at the
bottom of the dialog box to select the file type "Web

Page (*.htm, *.html).
The type a name such as myfile.htm in the File Name

box.
Notice where Word
is saving this file, and click Save.
c. Go into Word Tools|Options|General and

check "Confirm conversions at
open".
d. re-open myfile.htm (e.g. from the list of recently

opened files in the
Word FIle menu. You should see a dialog box

titled "Convert file". Select
"Plain Text" and click OK.
e. you should now see the "source code" of your

document in HTML format. It
won't look anything like your actual document, but

will
probably start

html xmlns="urn..."

Look down the document about 30 lines or so and you

should see lines that
show various pieces of information about the mail

merge
data source, e.g.
the lines starting

w:MailMergeMainDocType
w:MailMergeQueryString

etc. Can you please tell us what the few lines after

w:MailMergeQueryString

and

w:MailMergeDataSource

say?

And/or cut and paste these lines in a message and post

them here.

I am expecting the MailMergeQueryString to look

something like

SELECT * FROM the full path name of your data source

document

and the MailMergeDataSource to look lke

HRef="the full path name of your data source"

If there is a problem with the path name being too

long,
you may see that
the name is truncated in one or the other of those

texts. If neither is
truncated, thepath name length probably isn't the

problem.

Finally,

In terms of the template, I didn't create the

template,
it's government. And it always needs to be attached

to
the datasource. I work under a strict government
legislation which legislates which information has

to
be
on which form and we are not allowed to change it
(unfortunately). As well, because of the nature of

the
job, I have to send out these government forms with

every
piece of mail I send. I even have a legislation that
tells me what items HAVE to be on my fax covers

(there's
a list of about 20 items) (and we actually get in

trouble
if information is missing!!)

OK, it's clear that if you have to use a specific

predefined template then
if there is a problem with the template then it may be

impossible to solve
unless someone is allowed to change it. But I get the

impression from what
you have said that you are allowed to change some

aspects of a template. For
example, if the template is connected to a data

source,
it will be connected
to a specific file in a specific location in your

folders. But if you have a
typical WIndows configuration where your documents are

stored in My
Documents, the full path name of /your/ "My Documents"

folder will almost
certainly contain some form of logon or user name.

Since
that name will be
different for each user, each user's copy of the

template would either have
to be a bit different, or would (probably) have to

have
a macro that would
work out the full path name of the data source.

Peter Jamieson






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