Why can't I have my excel file and mailmerge document open togethe

I've been producing a directory using Word and a named range in an Excel
worksheet for many years without any real problems. Now I've upgraded to
Office2007, it seems I can't open my mailmerge 'master document' in Word
unless I first close the file where the data exists in Excel. If both
programs are open at the same time, Word produces an error to say that the
database engine can't find the (named range) object. Then, when I've
completed the merge, I have to close Word, otherwise when I try and open the
file in Excel again, I get an error message to say the file format or
extension is not valid. It's a pain keep having to close one or the other
down and I'm pretty sure I didn't have to do so in earlier versions of
Office. Am I missing something?

I cannot replicate that problem here with a datasource that is named range
in an Excel spreadsheet that is saved as an .xslx file. What format is your
data source?

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com
"browniebodrum" wrote in message
...
I've been producing a directory using Word and a named range in an Excel
worksheet for many years without any real problems. Now I've upgraded to
Office2007, it seems I can't open my mailmerge 'master document' in Word
unless I first close the file where the data exists in Excel. If both
programs are open at the same time, Word produces an error to say that the
database engine can't find the (named range) object. Then, when I've
completed the merge, I have to close Word, otherwise when I try and open
the
file in Excel again, I get an error message to say the file format or
extension is not valid. It's a pain keep having to close one or the other
down and I'm pretty sure I didn't have to do so in earlier versions of
Office. Am I missing something?

You will (almost) certainly see this, or a very similar problem, if for
example you are in the middle of a cell edit in the open Excel file,
e.g. if you have double-clicked in a cell or the insertion point is in
the formula bar at the top of Excel. There may be other operations in
Excel that will result in the problem.

I guess that in this case, when Word tries to access the Excel file, the
OLE DB provider considers that the file is "locked".

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

browniebodrum wrote:
I've been producing a directory using Word and a named range in an Excel
worksheet for many years without any real problems. Now I've upgraded to
Office2007, it seems I can't open my mailmerge 'master document' in Word
unless I first close the file where the data exists in Excel. If both
programs are open at the same time, Word produces an error to say that the
database engine can't find the (named range) object. Then, when I've
completed the merge, I have to close Word, otherwise when I try and open the
file in Excel again, I get an error message to say the file format or
extension is not valid. It's a pain keep having to close one or the other
down and I'm pretty sure I didn't have to do so in earlier versions of
Office. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the reply, Doug. Sorry not to get back to you quicker. The data
is in a named range in an Excel .xlsx worksheet. When I try to open the Word
document, I get the dialog box to say it's going to link to the data, to
which I say 'OK' and then this error message comes up (complete with
misspelling of occurred): Error has occured: The Microsoft Office Access
database engine could not find the object '_soc09’. Make sure the object
exists and that you spell its name and the path name correctly.


"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

I cannot replicate that problem here with a datasource that is named range
in an Excel spreadsheet that is saved as an .xslx file. What format is your
data source?

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com
"browniebodrum" wrote in message
...
I've been producing a directory using Word and a named range in an Excel
worksheet for many years without any real problems. Now I've upgraded to
Office2007, it seems I can't open my mailmerge 'master document' in Word
unless I first close the file where the data exists in Excel. If both
programs are open at the same time, Word produces an error to say that the
database engine can't find the (named range) object. Then, when I've
completed the merge, I have to close Word, otherwise when I try and open
the
file in Excel again, I get an error message to say the file format or
extension is not valid. It's a pain keep having to close one or the other
down and I'm pretty sure I didn't have to do so in earlier versions of
Office. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the reply, Peter, and sorry for not getting back here sooner.
I've tried to ensure I'm not in the middle of editing a cell or in the
formula editing bar, by clicking on the tab of a sheet other than the one
where the named range is but it makes no difference.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

You will (almost) certainly see this, or a very similar problem, if for
example you are in the middle of a cell edit in the open Excel file,
e.g. if you have double-clicked in a cell or the insertion point is in
the formula bar at the top of Excel. There may be other operations in
Excel that will result in the problem.

I guess that in this case, when Word tries to access the Excel file, the
OLE DB provider considers that the file is "locked".

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

browniebodrum wrote:
I've been producing a directory using Word and a named range in an Excel
worksheet for many years without any real problems. Now I've upgraded to
Office2007, it seems I can't open my mailmerge 'master document' in Word
unless I first close the file where the data exists in Excel. If both
programs are open at the same time, Word produces an error to say that the
database engine can't find the (named range) object. Then, when I've
completed the merge, I have to close Word, otherwise when I try and open the
file in Excel again, I get an error message to say the file format or
extension is not valid. It's a pain keep having to close one or the other
down and I'm pretty sure I didn't have to do so in earlier versions of
Office. Am I missing something?

I've managed to get this working so I can have both files open at once. I
think the previous problems must have resulted from some corruption
somewhere. I removed the worksheet containing the named range to a new
workbook and then edited the master document so it linked to the named range
in the new temporary workbook, giving the workbook, the worksheet and the
named range all new names. Once I got it working and merging the right data
in the right sort order, I established that I could have the two files open
together. Then I put the worksheet back in the original workbook and
repeated the process of linking the master document with the original
workbook again. I can now have the two files open at the same time (the
Excel workbook with the data in it and the Word master document). What a
performance to get back to a working solution, though...

"browniebodrum" wrote:

Thanks for the reply, Doug. Sorry not to get back to you quicker. The data
is in a named range in an Excel .xlsx worksheet. When I try to open the Word
document, I get the dialog box to say it's going to link to the data, to
which I say 'OK' and then this error message comes up (complete with
misspelling of occurred): Error has occured: The Microsoft Office Access
database engine could not find the object '_soc09’. Make sure the object
exists and that you spell its name and the path name correctly.


"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

I cannot replicate that problem here with a datasource that is named range
in an Excel spreadsheet that is saved as an .xslx file. What format is your
data source?

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com
"browniebodrum" wrote in message
...
I've been producing a directory using Word and a named range in an Excel
worksheet for many years without any real problems. Now I've upgraded to
Office2007, it seems I can't open my mailmerge 'master document' in Word
unless I first close the file where the data exists in Excel. If both
programs are open at the same time, Word produces an error to say that the
database engine can't find the (named range) object. Then, when I've
completed the merge, I have to close Word, otherwise when I try and open
the
file in Excel again, I get an error message to say the file format or
extension is not valid. It's a pain keep having to close one or the other
down and I'm pretty sure I didn't have to do so in earlier versions of
Office. Am I missing something?

Is _soc09 the name of the range in Excel?

If I use a range with that name in an xslx workbook, I do not have a problem
linking to it.

Try going to Word OptionsAdvanced (via the Office button) and then scroll
down to the General Section and check the box against the Confirm File
Format Conversion on Open and try and use a different connection method.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com
"browniebodrum" wrote in message
news
Thanks for the reply, Doug. Sorry not to get back to you quicker. The
data
is in a named range in an Excel .xlsx worksheet. When I try to open the
Word
document, I get the dialog box to say it's going to link to the data, to
which I say 'OK' and then this error message comes up (complete with
misspelling of occurred): Error has occured: The Microsoft Office Access
database engine could not find the object '_soc09’. Make sure the object
exists and that you spell its name and the path name correctly.


"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote:

I cannot replicate that problem here with a datasource that is named
range
in an Excel spreadsheet that is saved as an .xslx file. What format is
your
data source?

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com
"browniebodrum" wrote in
message
...
I've been producing a directory using Word and a named range in an
Excel
worksheet for many years without any real problems. Now I've upgraded
to
Office2007, it seems I can't open my mailmerge 'master document' in
Word
unless I first close the file where the data exists in Excel. If both
programs are open at the same time, Word produces an error to say that
the
database engine can't find the (named range) object. Then, when I've
completed the merge, I have to close Word, otherwise when I try and
open
the
file in Excel again, I get an error message to say the file format or
extension is not valid. It's a pain keep having to close one or the
other
down and I'm pretty sure I didn't have to do so in earlier versions of
Office. Am I missing something?