View Single Post
  #1  
Old April 21st, 2005, 07:54 PM
Cheryl Cavanaugh
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word "INCLUDETEXT" changes the filename

I am a different user, but have the exact same problem. I have the code:

{ INCLUDE TEXT: "C://Program Files//Ecorp//Letterhead.dot" }. This pulls in
our client's letterhead into master letters (not meaning a master document as
defined by word - just a precedent). It works like a charm in the office,
but on the client's site, the path and file name change to something
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and changing it manually makes no difference whatsoever.
Oddly, or perhaps not oddly, I don't know, it retrieves the letterhead our
client has stored on their own system - not the right letterhead by any
means, but it is a letterhead, but different name! BIZARRE! How can I keep
this from happening?

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

I have to tried to replicate this problem but have not seen it so far. That
might just mean that my data is not sufficiently large or some such. But
here are a few questions:
a. which versions of Word exhibit this problem? ("Ritterhaus" mentions Word
XP - have you also experienced it on Word 2003? 2000? etc.)
b. does it appear to make any difference how the INCLUDETEXT is
constructed? e.g., in the example given it seems very simple:

{ INCLUDETEXT "master.doc" BookmarkName }

In this example, I am assuming that
i. master.doc is a piece of plain text, not the result of a MERGEFIELD
field
ii. BookmarkName is the result of a MERGEFIELD field. Is that correct? Does
the bookmark name ever
iii. there are no quotes around BookmarkName (according to Word Help, they
are not part of the INCLUDETEXT syntax so that should be OK). Does it make
any difference if BookmarkName is quoted?

However typically you would need path information, or the INCLUDETEXT would
either resolve correctly or it would not depending on what Word considered
its current folder to be. e.g. if you open the mail merge document, then
open a document in another folder, then refresh the INCLUDETEXT field, you
will probably see an error. The question is, does the reported problem only
occur if no path is present, a path is present, or does it make no
difference?

d. is there only a single INCLUDETEXT in problem documents?
e. If you move the entire application to another PC, does the problem still
occur? The chances of having a problem recognised and investigated are
obviously very much higher if you can provide an example which goes wrong
sometimes, even if you can't get it to go wrong to order. (I think you would
have to go via Microsoft PSS to get any action on this though).

Peter Jamieson


"pbnyc" wrote in message
news
I have precisely the same problem which I've never been able to describe so
eloquently. Thank you. It's a shame no one has responded. Every answer
I've
ever heard to this question never quite admits that this is a bug, but it
very clearly is, and it's also very clearly a show-stopper in terms of
using
Word + Access as a reliable solution for the creation of mission critical
documents. Answer I've heard always focus on user's not getting the
connection right, but as stated, this still happens when nothing has
changed.
I mean nothing but opening and closing the Word file. And what about the
mangled field code? It's not as if the postition of a quotation mark plays
any kind of significant role here is it???

" wrote:

I've seen postings on this going back as far as 2002, but never found a
efinitive answer. Microsoft doesn't seem to address this in their
knowledge base, yet this appears to be an old problem. Here's the
scoop...

Lawyer is using Word XP and has a master document with boilerplate
text, we'll call it master.doc. He creates 20 or so "child documents"
that must include some of the text from the boilerplate. He goes
through the master and creates a bookmark for each section of text he
wants to use as a unit.

In the child documents he includes the boilerplate with the following:

{ INCLUDETEXT "master.doc" BookmarkName }

He IS doing this correctly, because the field is replaced with the
proper text and all is right with his world.

At some later point (it doesn't seem to matter whether he has closed
the document and reopened it) he refreshes the field. SOMETIMES (it
happens often, but not predictably) the field now reads "Error! Not a
valid file name." Toggling the field text reveals that the field now
reads thus:

{ INCLUDETEXT "master.doc BookmarkName" }

Note that the bookmark has been added to the file name, so that now the
filed points to a non-existent file (hence the error.) Manually
"fixing" the field does not work - Word continues to mangle the name
until the original document is renamed and the field modified to
reflect the new name.

No files have been moved, no paths changed, all the documents are in
the same directory, etc. The fact that Word will not accept even a
manual change to the field wthout renaming the file is particularly
disconcerting.

Does anybody have any information on this? And how to fix this?