A possibility...

Are your Mail merge main documents (the .doc files) all connected to the
same template (.dot) (You can find out by opening the .doc, answering any of
the questions you are encountering, and looking at the first field in the
Tools|Templates and Addins dialog box.

The document and the template can theoretically be connected to different
data sources. It may be that the message you are seeing are displayed by
Word because it cannot find the data source attached to the /template/. If
so, you could consider two things:
a. open the template file itself (the .dot) and make sure it is attached to
the data source you want to use. Close the template, and open it again to
verify that you do not see the question about the data source.
b. open the template file and make sure it is not a mail merge main
document (i.e. use the Mail Merge Wizard or the first button on the
mailmerge toolbar to say that it is a normal word document. Then save it.

The problem with doing (b) is that new documents created using the modified
template will not be attached to a data source and you will have to attach
each document to your data source when you create it.

I have always been wary of using templates attached to data sources
precisely because you end up with two connections whenever you open a
document based on that template. If you are using the same data source a
lot, it may be better to create a "skeleton" .doc rather than a proper .dot
template. Connect the skeleton to the data source. Then, when you want a new
mail merge main document, open the skeleton, save it immediately with a new
name, and work with the new document. If you need the other facilities of a
template (styles, macros, autotexts and so on), create the template, but do
not attach it to a data source. Then base your skeleton.doc on your template
using Tools|Templates and Addins. WHen you make a copy of skeleton.doc, the
copy will also be based on the template.

Another possibility is that the full pathname of your data source document
is too long, that Word is not saving the full name, so that when Word
re-opens the document, it does not have the full name and has to ask you. I
do not know what the length limit is, if any, but if you think that might be
a possibility you could make a copy of your data source in a folder with a
very short name (e.g. c:\a ), then connect to that data source instead, and
see if that connection persists. Again, if the template is connected to the
data source, you may also need to modify the template's connection.

I hope you can follow all that!

--
Peter Jamieson

"Rachael" wrote in message
...
This is a post from last week. I need some help still.
Below is the originals with all the quotes.

Thanks!



Subject: XP asks for database every time

Me: At work I just upgraded from Office 2000 to Office
XP. In
2000 after using a file a couple of times with a mail
merge, it would stop asking me for the database (it would
know where it is automatically).

I assumed the same would be for XP. I've had Office XP
for about a month now and every time I open a mail merge
document, it asks me for the location of the database!!
It's driving me nuts!! It never opens to the right
directory, and I have to locate it each time!

Is there a way around this? 99% of my documents are mail
merged to this same database and I use it constantly
throughout the day. I need a solution.

If there isn't one, I will ask tech to downgrade me
again, because I can't do this every time!
================================================== ======
CM: Hi Rachael,

1. Is this an Access database, or something else?

2. Is the database on your machine, locally, or in the
network?

3. Are you making use of the Recipients dialog box to
choose
records, or does also happen otherwise?

To get you going, you should look at the Word 2002
section
of my website's mail merge FAQ, most especially, the
information on connecting. Try using a DDE or ODBC
connection (if this is Access) and see if things don't
settle down a bit.

================================================== ========


ME: I have no idea if it's an Access Database. It was
already set when I started here. How could I find that
out?

The Database is locally on my machine.

I don't know what the recipients dialog box is, but I'm
doing files on an individual per recipient basis. I never
have to send the same letter to more than one person.

(I work in insurance, and these are the claimants who I
send benefits too)

any help would be great.

================================================== ===

Me: I have no idea if it's an Access Database. It was
already set when I started here. How could I find that
out?

CM: OK, if you have to navigate to the database in order
to relink, then you do know the complete file name? What
extension does it use? *.xls, *.mdb, or something else?

ME: I don't know what the recipients dialog box is, but
I'm doing files on an individual per recipient basis. I
never have to send the same letter to more than one
person.

CM: Ahhh. OK. This isn't really what mailmerge is meant
for, but people do use it like that :-) So, in order to
choose the single recipient, what do you do, exactly?

================================================== ===

-----Original Message-----
I have no idea if it's an Access Database. It was
already
set when I started here. How could I find that out?

OK, if you have to navigate to the database in order to
relink, then you do know the complete file name? What
extension does it use? *.xls, *.mdb, or something else?

ME: Ok, it's just a .doc file.


I don't know what the recipients dialog box is, but
I'm
doing files on an individual per recipient basis. I
never
have to send the same letter to more than one person.

Ahhh. OK. This isn't really what mailmerge is meant for,
but
people do use it like that :-) So, in order to choose
the
single recipient, what do you do, exactly?

ME: OK. This is the process (sorry if it's long, but I
need to figure this out).

I open the template I want to use in the "open office
document". I open the file and a window pops open that
says: "filename.dot is a mail merge main document. Word
cannot find it's data source, C:\...\filename.doc" and I
get two options: "Find Data Source" and "Options". I
click on "Find Data Source" and manually go to the
location of my filename.doc data source file. Then my
word document opens. It asks this for EVERY WORD FILE
that has a mail merge.

Then, I click on the the button on my toolbar
for "dataform" which is a picture of table with a
pen/pencil and a screen opens up that has all my fields
in the body, "record" at the bottom left (to cycle
through all my records) and a bunch of buttons on the
right ("Add New" "Delete" "Restore" "Find" "View Source"
and "Close").

I click on "Find" (a screen opens) and search by one of
the fields (i.e. last name), by clicking on the "find
first" button in the find screen. When the right record
shows up in the "Data Form" in the background, I click
the close button in the "find" box. Now, because there is
no "OK" button on the "Data Form" if I click on "Close",
the record doesn't update to the document. I have to look
at the bottom of the "Data Form" Screen for the record
number (say #192), click "Close" and go to my record
number space in the toolbar, type in the corect one
(192), press enter, and then it updates to my document
after pressing the "ABC" button (Veiw Merged data).

I'm trying to figure out if there is a better way to do
this.

If I click on the "find" button in the toolbar (the
binoculars one) It doesn't find anything. Of course, that
is related to my other post. Essentially, they are a
related issue.

I don't know anything about Macros. All I did was
customize my toolbar from the ToolsCustomize menu.

Any help would be apreciated. Our tech department doesn't
do Office help.