Using MailMerge document cross platform (PC/Mac)

i have created a document in Word 2007 on a PC and want to be able to use it
on a Mac using Office 2008. Is there a known compatibility issue here? The
document opens with different merge fields than the original labeled 'F17' or
'F25' (an F plus a number), which don't match anything in the associated data
file (which isn't automatically attached either).

Similar problems when starting with the mac and trying to open/use on a PC.

When using a VM on the Mac, no problems - as long as I select 'NO' when
prompted to allow SQL to run on the original file. I get no such prompt when
opening the file on the Mac. Perhaps it is automatically running the SQL?
Can I change the default behavior?

Thanks for any help!
Tom

Is there a known compatibility issue here?

When it comes to connecting to the data source, compatibility is quite
poor, for two main reasons:
a. Word stores the absolute pathname of the file you are using as the
data source. Because the file system naming conventions on Mac are
different from the ones on PC, it is not likely that the Windows version
of Word and the Mac version will (a) store the same pathname or (b)
recognise a pathname stored by the other version. If Word just stored
the /filename/ things might be different.
b. For some types of data source, Windows Word uses a completely
different connection method (by default) than Mac Word. For example, if
your data source is an Excel workbook, Windows Word uses a method called
"OLE DB" which Mac Word cannot use. Mac Word uses a file converter which
Windows Word no longer has. Word used to be able to connect using ODBC
on both platforms but ODBC is obsolescent in Windows Word and is no
longer availabel in Mac Word (it wasn't available in Mac Word 2004 either)

In principle you could probably automate Word to workaround some of
these differences, but in practice it can be quite hard and is probably
not worth it. For one thing, you cannot automate Word 2008 using VBA and
you would probably have to maintain code in two languages (VBA on
Windows and AppleScript on Mac).


When using a VM on the Mac, no problems - as long as I select 'NO' when
prompted to allow SQL to run on the original file. I get no such
prompt when
opening the file on the Mac. Perhaps it is automatically running the
SQL?

Word on Windows has displayed this message for several versions because
of a perception that using SQL can do Bad Things somehow or other. There
may be some justification for that when using something like Jet
(Access) SQL, but when Word uses other Word documents as data sources it
uses a very crude internal dialect of SQL that is really incapable of
damaging anything. So I guess the justification for warning about that
is that your document may end up with data in it that could be stolen
from your system without your knowledge. Not very convincing.
Unfortunately this latter idea seems to have reached the normally less
paranoid Mac World in Word 2008, because there are now more irritating
messages when opening data sources there too. AFAICR they do not mention
SQL, which may be because there are currently no circumstances in which
Mac Word would use any dialect of SQL except Word's internal one.

If you want to remove the message on Windows Word, you can apply the
registry change described in

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825765


The
document opens with different merge fields than the original labeled
'F17' or
'F25' (an F plus a number), which don't match anything in the
associated data
file (which isn't automatically attached either).

What are you using as the data source? Is it Excel, or Word, or
something else?

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
Visit Londinium at http://www.ralphwatson.tv

Weston3 wrote:
i have created a document in Word 2007 on a PC and want to be able to use it
on a Mac using Office 2008. Is there a known compatibility issue here? The
document opens with different merge fields than the original labeled
'F17' or
'F25' (an F plus a number), which don't match anything in the
associated data
file (which isn't automatically attached either).


Similar problems when starting with the mac and trying to open/use on a PC.

When using a VM on the Mac, no problems - as long as I select 'NO' when
prompted to allow SQL to run on the original file. I get no such prompt when
opening the file on the Mac. Perhaps it is automatically running the SQL?
Can I change the default behavior?

Thanks for any help!
Tom