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#1
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Maximum number of rows?
I am running Word XP 2003. In my external application,
data is sent from an Informix database in a delimited format. When I run the program, the process starts out fine. Word opens my template, and starts creating the data table from which it creates the form letters. Here is my problem: I am trying to create around 1,200 letters. Each time, the table creation stops at record number 992. The problem is not data specific. I can grab completely different data, and Word stops at exactly the same row. My external application continues to try to send the data, but Word stops. No letters are created. My work around is to create smaller batches, but that is inconvenient in my situation. Question: Is there a limit to the number of rows that can be imported into Word for a mail merge? I have hunted for settings that could impact on it, but have not found anything. I have recently talked with another person who is experiencing the same problem, but her process stops at a smaller number of rows. That made me wonder if this had anything to do with the memory on an individual pc. Does anyone have any ideas?? Thanks! Peter Soules |
#2
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Maximum number of rows?
Hi Peter,
Question: Is there a limit to the number of rows that can be imported into Word for a mail merge? Not officially, no. There can be a problem with the merge EXECUTION, where not all rows are actually merged; and indeed, it is usually machine (memory) specific. 992 sounds a bit low for this, though... I'm not exactly clear on exactly what you're doing, however, and would like to clarify a few points I am running Word XP 2003. In my external application, data is sent from an Informix database in a delimited format. When I run the program, the process starts out fine. Word opens my template, and starts creating the data table from which it creates the form letters. Here is my problem: I am trying to create around 1,200 letters. Each time, the table creation stops at record number 992. 1. Are we discussing Word 2002 (XP) or 2003? (There is no such version as "Word XP 2003") 2. Can you be more specific about what's going on, here? The existence of a data source and the number of records in contains should be totally independent of the mail merge process. There is no internal behavior along these lines: "Word opens my template and starts creating the data table". 3. So, if "table creation" - meaning the data source - stops, then this must be something external to Word's mail merge. 4. Are you actually attempting to execute the mail merge? If yes, to a new document or to the printer? And if the latter, do you see something different when merging to a new document, instead? Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep 30 2003) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) |
#3
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Maximum number of rows?
Thanks for your response!
Some clarification: I am running Word 2003 on an XP pc. I have been able to run this process without problems on earlier versions of Word (2002) The process that I am running is a link between a database and Word. The database program is set to open up Word, select a template, and send over the data. Word opens, and the data source begins to be created. This is never completed. The data source creation stops each time at record 992. It is not data dependent. I have tried it with other data, and the same thing happens. As the data source is not completed, the mail merge does not begin automatically, as it should. I have talked with another person who is attempting the same thing, and her data source always stops around 500 rows. If I try to send a smaller batch, it all works fine! The only problem is with the larger batches. As far as I can tell, the database program is attempting to send all of the data. Word seems to reach a limit. As for memory, I have 1 GB of RAM. The other person (getting 500 rows) has 256 MB. Thanks for your help! -----Original Message----- Hi Peter, Question: Is there a limit to the number of rows that can be imported into Word for a mail merge? Not officially, no. There can be a problem with the merge EXECUTION, where not all rows are actually merged; and indeed, it is usually machine (memory) specific. 992 sounds a bit low for this, though... I'm not exactly clear on exactly what you're doing, however, and would like to clarify a few points I am running Word XP 2003. In my external application, data is sent from an Informix database in a delimited format. When I run the program, the process starts out fine. Word opens my template, and starts creating the data table from which it creates the form letters. Here is my problem: I am trying to create around 1,200 letters. Each time, the table creation stops at record number 992. 1. Are we discussing Word 2002 (XP) or 2003? (There is no such version as "Word XP 2003") 2. Can you be more specific about what's going on, here? The existence of a data source and the number of records in contains should be totally independent of the mail merge process. There is no internal behavior along these lines: "Word opens my template and starts creating the data table". 3. So, if "table creation" - meaning the data source - stops, then this must be something external to Word's merge. 4. Are you actually attempting to execute the mail merge? If yes, to a new document or to the printer? And if the latter, do you see something different when merging to a new document, instead? Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep 30 2003) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e- :-) . |
#4
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Maximum number of rows?
On Tue, 11 May 2004 10:03:33 -0700, "Peter Soules"
wrote: ....trimmed... I am running Word 2003 on an XP pc. Word opens, and the data source begins to be created. This is never completed. The data source creation stops each time at record 992. It is not data dependent. I have tried it with other data, and the same thing happens. I have talked with another person who is attempting the same thing, and her data source always stops around 500 rows. As for memory, I have 1 GB of RAM. The other person (getting 500 rows) has 256 MB. ....fascinating... It is widely believed (though I don't think that Microsoft has ever admitted it) that mail merge starts over scanning records from the beginning of the source for each record that it merges. (E.g. it gets record 1, forgets where it was, gets record 1 and then 2, forgets where it was, gets record 1 then 2 then 3, etc.) This is probably why Word mail merge gets slower as it goes along. This is an "N-squared" algorithm; the time it takes (and the number of records scanned) is proportional to the square of the number of records actually merged. Now imagine that Word 2003 (or the interaction with the database) has a memory leak that loses a certain amount of memory every time it looks at a record. The amount of memory leaked would be proportional to the square of the number of records merged. For example someone might lose 256MB merging 500 records, and 1GB merging 1000 records. Sound familiar? (If Word is leaking pageable memory, we would need to know the page file size on the two machines. If Word is leaking non-pageable memory, it must be losing about 2KB per record. This is more like arterial bleeding than a small leak.) The cures available would be: Get more memory Break the job into several smaller jobs Get Microsoft to fix the leak Try one of the other methods of connecting to the database (maybe it is the connection method that is leaking) Bob S |
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