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WD2000: Incorrect Results When You Perform Mail Merge with Excel Data Source

Article ID: 204542 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q204542

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a mail merge with a Microsoft Excel data source, the results of the mail merge may not be correct. For example, a record that contains a blank field in the data source displays the data from the previous record in the merge results.

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CAUSE

Word used Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), which is the default, to connect to your data source.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

276367

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/276367/EN-US/ )

OFF2000: How to Obtain the Latest Office 2000 Service Pack

The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date          Time   Size       File name
   --------------------------------------------------
   06-Sep-2002   14:42      2,962  Readme.txt
   06-Sep-2002   14:13  4,047,116  Winword.msp
   06-Sep-2002   15:44  4,681,888  Winword_admin.msp

After the hotfix is installed, the following files will have the listed attributes or later:

   Date         Time   Version      Size       File name
   -------------------------------------------------------
   12-Aug-2002  03:59  9.0.0.6808   8,818,740  Winword.exe

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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use the Excel Worksheet Converter to connect to your data source. To do this, follow these steps:

On the Tools menu, click Mail Merge.
In the Mail Merge Helper dialog box, click Get Data, and then click Open Data Source.
In the Open Data Source dialog box, click MS Excel Worksheet (*.xls) in the Files of type list, and then locate and select your Excel data file.
Select the Select Method check box, and then click Open.
In the Confirm Data Source dialog box, click MS Excel Worksheet via Converter (*.xls, *.xlw), and then click OK.
In the Open Worksheet dialog box, click Entire Workbook in the Open Document in Workbook list, and then click OK.
-or-
In the Open Worksheet dialog box, click the appropriate sheet in the Open Document in Workbook list, click the appropriate Name or Cell Range, and then click OK.
Follow the Mail Merge Helper prompts to set up your main document, and continue the mail merge.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Office 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP-3).

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MORE INFORMATION

Word 2000 uses DDE as its default method for connecting to a mail merge data source. The Select Method check box in the Open Data Source dialog box permits you to select other connection methods, which includes Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

212314

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212314/EN-US/ )

WD2000: How to Use a Microsoft Excel Data Source for Mail Merge

212329

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212329/EN-US/ )

WD2000: How to Start a Mail Merge

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