OFF2001: Data Merge Query Options Unavailable When You Use Office Address Book as Data Source

When you use the Office Address Book (Entourage contacts) as a data source for a data merge, the Query Options button is unavailable (dimmed) under Merge in the Data Merge Manager. (Similarly the Edit Data Source button next to Get Data is unavailable.) Also, all of the data is merged as alphabetical by the First Name field, not as it is sorted in the Office Address Book.

The Office Address Book is saved in a database format that prohibits editing, filtering, or sorting from within the Word Data Merge Manager.

If you want to use the Office Address Book as a data source for a data merge, and you need to filter or sort merged records by using Query Options, two workarounds are available: The first is to export the data from Entourage, import the data into Excel, save the workbook, and then use the workbook as a new data source. The second is to use a third-party program.

Method 1: Export and Import the Data into Excel

In Entourage, you can export data into a text-only tab-delimited document by choosing Export Contacts on the File menu. Then you can open the exported contacts file and edit it in other programs. For this purpose, the best program in which to open and edit this file is Excel 2001 for Mac. When you use the Excel file as the data source for the data merge, Query Options is available, and you can edit the data source. Use the Text Import Wizard in Excel 2001 to open the "Contacts Export" file, and then follow these steps to use the Excel file as the data source for your data merge:

1. In Excel 2001, click Open on the File menu. Open the "Contacts Export" file that was created when you exported address book data from Entourage. This action starts the Text Import Wizard.
2. In step 1 of the wizard, for Original Data Type, choose Delimited. For Start import at row, choose 1. For File Origin, choose Macintosh. Click Next.
3. In step 2 of the wizard, for Delimiter, choose Tab. For Text qualifier, choose (none).
4. Click Finish. Save the Excel file in the Text (Tab delimited) file format.
5. In the Data Merge Manager, under Data Source, click Get Data, click Open Data Source, and then open the file that you saved in step 4.
6. Insert fields into your data merge document by selecting them from the Insert Merge Field menu.
7. Query Options will be available under Merge.

Method 2: Install and Use a Free Third-Party Program

Office for Office AppleScripts are free third-party AppleScripts available from the following AppleScript Web site: To download Office for Office AppleScripts, browse to the following Web site:

Method 3: Install and Use a Third-Party ShareWare Program

eQuery is available as a third-party shareware program. For more information about eQuery, please browse to the following Web site: The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Query Options is automatically available if you create the data source for the data merge in Word or Excel.

For additional information about data merges, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: