Word not allowing 2 documents to access data source at same time

Previously I have been able to open up 2 separate documents at the same time
that take their data from a common Excel file.

As of this week I get a pop-up that says:
This file is in use.
Enter a new name or close the file that's open in another program.

I am using Windows 7 and Office 2007.

If your Excel workbook is a .xlsx or .xlsm (i.e. an Excel 2007 format
workbook) then Word will not be able to open it as a data source in two
separate mailmerge documents. If it is an old-style .xls Word will
/probably/ be able to do that (I can't check the Win 7/Word 2007
combination specifically), although if the .xls is located on a network
drive, that might make a difference.

I don't know exactly why this should be so, but I suspect that whatever
code library Microsoft uses in its ACE OLE DB provider to open .xlsx
(and Office 2007 format documents in general) locks the .xlsx in some
way that the older Jet provider did not do.

There might be a workaround but I am not currently aware of one.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 22/01/2010 10:14, Rayashe wrote:
Previously I have been able to open up 2 separate documents at the same time
that take their data from a common Excel file.

As of this week I get a pop-up that says:
This file is in use.
Enter a new name or close the file that's open in another program.

I am using Windows 7 and Office 2007.

Hi Peter,
The Windows 7 & .xls combination seems to work - thanks

It is odd though as the Windows 7 & Office 2007 combination WAS/HAS been
working since I installed Win7 at the start of December???

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

If your Excel workbook is a .xlsx or .xlsm (i.e. an Excel 2007 format
workbook) then Word will not be able to open it as a data source in two
separate mailmerge documents. If it is an old-style .xls Word will
/probably/ be able to do that (I can't check the Win 7/Word 2007
combination specifically), although if the .xls is located on a network
drive, that might make a difference.

I don't know exactly why this should be so, but I suspect that whatever
code library Microsoft uses in its ACE OLE DB provider to open .xlsx
(and Office 2007 format documents in general) locks the .xlsx in some
way that the older Jet provider did not do.

There might be a workaround but I am not currently aware of one.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

On 22/01/2010 10:14, Rayashe wrote:
Previously I have been able to open up 2 separate documents at the same time
that take their data from a common Excel file.

As of this week I get a pop-up that says:
This file is in use.
Enter a new name or close the file that's open in another program.

I am using Windows 7 and Office 2007.
.