If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Running mail merge on another computer
I have a mail merge main document (Word 2003) which uses a query
(view) from an Access (2003) database as its data source. The data source is saved as a Microsoft Office Data Connection (.ODC) file in the My Data Sources folder. The .ODC file is an HTML/XML document containing folders specific to my computer. I want to transfer the mail merge files (main document, database and ..ODC file) to another computer so that the mail merge can be run on that computer. However because the .ODC file contains folder names specific to my computer, it won't work on the other computer because it has different folders. What is the recommended method for running a mail merge on another computer? Obviously I could require the user to recreate the data source connection within Word, but is there a way of creating a portable data source connection? If the folder names in the .ODC file were relative instead of absolute that would solve the problem. Is there a GUI for editing .ODC files? Thanks for any help/info. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Maybe the simplest thing is to use the datasource on the original computer
to create a directory type mailmerge by inserting the mergefields into the cell of a one row table in the directory mail merge main document, then after executing the merge, insert a row at the top of the table in the result and insert the mergefield names into that row, then save that file and attach it to the original mailmerge main document as the data source. Then move both of the files to the other computer. Low tech, but it will work. -- Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis. Hope this helps, Doug Robbins - Word MVP "John Williams" wrote in message m... I have a mail merge main document (Word 2003) which uses a query (view) from an Access (2003) database as its data source. The data source is saved as a Microsoft Office Data Connection (.ODC) file in the My Data Sources folder. The .ODC file is an HTML/XML document containing folders specific to my computer. I want to transfer the mail merge files (main document, database and .ODC file) to another computer so that the mail merge can be run on that computer. However because the .ODC file contains folder names specific to my computer, it won't work on the other computer because it has different folders. What is the recommended method for running a mail merge on another computer? Obviously I could require the user to recreate the data source connection within Word, but is there a way of creating a portable data source connection? If the folder names in the .ODC file were relative instead of absolute that would solve the problem. Is there a GUI for editing .ODC files? Thanks for any help/info. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Maybe the simplest thing is to use the datasource on the original computer
to create a directory type mailmerge by inserting the mergefields into the cell of a one row table in the directory mail merge main document, then after executing the merge, insert a row at the top of the table in the result and insert the mergefield names into that row, then save that file and attach it to the original mailmerge main document as the data source. Then move both of the files to the other computer. Low tech, but it will work. -- Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis. Hope this helps, Doug Robbins - Word MVP "John Williams" wrote in message m... I have a mail merge main document (Word 2003) which uses a query (view) from an Access (2003) database as its data source. The data source is saved as a Microsoft Office Data Connection (.ODC) file in the My Data Sources folder. The .ODC file is an HTML/XML document containing folders specific to my computer. I want to transfer the mail merge files (main document, database and .ODC file) to another computer so that the mail merge can be run on that computer. However because the .ODC file contains folder names specific to my computer, it won't work on the other computer because it has different folders. What is the recommended method for running a mail merge on another computer? Obviously I could require the user to recreate the data source connection within Word, but is there a way of creating a portable data source connection? If the folder names in the .ODC file were relative instead of absolute that would solve the problem. Is there a GUI for editing .ODC files? Thanks for any help/info. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks for your reply, however I don't understand it! It might be simpler
to just recreate the data connection on the other computer. "Doug Robbins" wrote in message ... Maybe the simplest thing is to use the datasource on the original computer to create a directory type mailmerge by inserting the mergefields into the cell of a one row table in the directory mail merge main document, then after executing the merge, insert a row at the top of the table in the result and insert the mergefield names into that row, then save that file and attach it to the original mailmerge main document as the data source. Then move both of the files to the other computer. Low tech, but it will work. -- Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis. Hope this helps, Doug Robbins - Word MVP "John Williams" wrote in message m... I have a mail merge main document (Word 2003) which uses a query (view) from an Access (2003) database as its data source. The data source is saved as a Microsoft Office Data Connection (.ODC) file in the My Data Sources folder. The .ODC file is an HTML/XML document containing folders specific to my computer. I want to transfer the mail merge files (main document, database and .ODC file) to another computer so that the mail merge can be run on that computer. However because the .ODC file contains folder names specific to my computer, it won't work on the other computer because it has different folders. What is the recommended method for running a mail merge on another computer? Obviously I could require the user to recreate the data source connection within Word, but is there a way of creating a portable data source connection? If the folder names in the .ODC file were relative instead of absolute that would solve the problem. Is there a GUI for editing .ODC files? Thanks for any help/info. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks for your reply, however I don't understand it! It might be simpler
to just recreate the data connection on the other computer. "Doug Robbins" wrote in message ... Maybe the simplest thing is to use the datasource on the original computer to create a directory type mailmerge by inserting the mergefields into the cell of a one row table in the directory mail merge main document, then after executing the merge, insert a row at the top of the table in the result and insert the mergefield names into that row, then save that file and attach it to the original mailmerge main document as the data source. Then move both of the files to the other computer. Low tech, but it will work. -- Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis. Hope this helps, Doug Robbins - Word MVP "John Williams" wrote in message m... I have a mail merge main document (Word 2003) which uses a query (view) from an Access (2003) database as its data source. The data source is saved as a Microsoft Office Data Connection (.ODC) file in the My Data Sources folder. The .ODC file is an HTML/XML document containing folders specific to my computer. I want to transfer the mail merge files (main document, database and .ODC file) to another computer so that the mail merge can be run on that computer. However because the .ODC file contains folder names specific to my computer, it won't work on the other computer because it has different folders. What is the recommended method for running a mail merge on another computer? Obviously I could require the user to recreate the data source connection within Word, but is there a way of creating a portable data source connection? If the folder names in the .ODC file were relative instead of absolute that would solve the problem. Is there a GUI for editing .ODC files? Thanks for any help/info. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Word-Excel 2003 - Mail Merge Recipients problem | Gabbi | Mailmerge | 4 | January 11th, 2005 04:11 AM |
Mail Merge Problem | MT DOJ Help Desk | General Discussion | 7 | July 20th, 2004 08:02 AM |
How to run word and pass a mail merge values and fax it to the recipient | Belinda | Mailmerge | 2 | June 13th, 2004 12:49 AM |
Break up Mail Merge into separate documents | Mailmerge | 6 | May 15th, 2004 06:24 AM |