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No records are displayed when you merge data with Microsoft Word

Article ID: 301595 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q301595

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to merge data from a Microsoft Access query with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Word displays one of the following error messages:

Word could not merge the main document with the data source because the data records were empty or no data records matched your query options.

-or-

No recipients match the filter criteria you specified. Check the recipient list to make sure it is not empty or change your filter criteria to include more recipients.

However, when you run the query in Microsoft Access, the correct records are displayed.

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By default, Word is configured to use the Jet.OLEDB provider to retrieve records from an Access database. If the Access query contains the wild card characters "*" or "?" in the criteria, the wild card characters will be ignored by the Jet.OLEDB provider and no matching records will be returned. The Jet.OLEDB provider is based on ANSI 92 syntax, which supports the wild card characters "%" and "_", not the wild card characters "*" and "?".

For example, Like "B*" will not work correctly, but Like "B%" will work correctly.

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RESOLUTION

You can use the following options to allow Word to retrieve the correct records.

Change the criteria from "*" to "%" or from "?" to "_".

Note If the query is being used by Access, make a copy of the query, change to "%" or "_" in the copy, and then use this copy for merging with Word.
Modify the database to use ANSI 92 syntax. In Microsoft Office Access 2003 or earlier versions of Access, do this by clicking Options on the Tools menu. Then, click the Tables/Queries tab. On this tab, click to select the SQL Server Compatible Syntax (ANSI 92) check box, and then modify all queries to use "%" instead of "*" or "_" instead of "?".

In Microsoft Office Access 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, click the Object Designers tab, click to selct the This database check box under SQL Server Compatible Syntax (ANSI 92), and then modify all queries to use "%" instead of "*" or "_" instead of "?".

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Behavior

In Access 2003 or in an earlier version of Access, open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
Create a new query that is based on the Customers table.
In the Criteria row, under the Company Name field, add Like "A*".
Save and then close the query.
In the Database window, click the query that you just created.
On the Tools menu, point to Office Links, and then click Merge It with Microsoft Word.
On the first page of the Microsoft Word Mail Merge Wizard, click Create a new document and then link the data to it, and then click OK. Note that Microsoft Word opens.
On the Mail Merge toolbar, click Insert Merge Fields. Select the field or fields to insert into the mail merge document, and then click Close.
On the Mail Merge toolbar, click Merge to New Document, and then click OK. Note that you receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

NOTE: If you use the Microsoft Word Mail Merge Wizard to complete the mail merge (using the query created above) you also receive an error. The error received is as follows:

No recipients match the filter criteria you specified. Check the recipient list to make sure it is not empty or change your filter criteria to include more recipients.