Access connection and lag time - SP edition the cause?

I have an access database that I am launching a MailMerge from. The data is
on the server, while the frontend of Access is on my hard drive, as well as
the MailMerge templates. It takes a long time to run, but eventually does. I
have now put the identical front end on one of our processor's machines. It
really struggles to run the MailMerge, and many times crashes the Access
application. I am trying to figure out why it would work on my machine, and
not his. We are both running Word 200, although I have SP3, he has SP2. One
major difference I have seen is that on starting the Word App, I get the
message from Word:

"Opening this document will run the following SQL command: SELECT * FROM
[queryname]. Data from your database will be placed in the document. Do you
want to continue?"

On his machine, no such message comes up.

Also, when first connecting the database to the letter, on my machine, I get
a box to choose from which type of database it is - I choose MDE (second
choice), on his machine, even starting from scratch, there is not prompt to
choose.

Could any of this be related to the unstable conditions we are seeing on his
machine? The other processors have the same version of Word as he does, and
it does not reliably run on his machine, so I cannot release it.

Thanks.

Is this the same database that we discussed a while back? Word XP
(2002)? Are you both also using the same version of Windows and both
using Access XP?

There is a list of fixes in /Word/ SP3 at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/836036/

Although this list may not be complete, none of the items listed seemed
obviously related to this problem. Same for the Access SP3 list.

"Opening this document will run the following SQL command: SELECT * FROM
[queryname]. Data from your database will be placed in the document.
Do you
want to continue?"

On his machine, no such message comes up.

The most likely explanation for this is that his machine has the
registry patch described at

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

and yours does not.

Also, when first connecting the database to the letter, on my
machine, I get
a box to choose from which type of database it is - I choose MDE (second
choice), on his machine, even starting from scratch, there is not
prompt to
choose.

DO you mean in the "Select data source" dialog box? And do you mean the
"Files of type" selection drop-down. Here (Word XP SP3) I see the a list
which starts with

All files (*.*)
All data sources (various extensions including .mde)
Office Data Connections (*.odc)
Access Databases (*.mdb, *.mde)

However, I get the impression you are seeing a different dialog
altogether - can you provide a bit more detail?

Peter Jamieson

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

On 08/10/2009 19:52, 4charity wrote:
I have an access database that I am launching a MailMerge from. The data is
on the server, while the frontend of Access is on my hard drive, as well as
the MailMerge templates. It takes a long time to run, but eventually does. I
have now put the identical front end on one of our processor's machines. It
really struggles to run the MailMerge, and many times crashes the Access
application. I am trying to figure out why it would work on my machine, and
not his. We are both running Word 200, although I have SP3, he has SP2. One
major difference I have seen is that on starting the Word App, I get the
message from Word:

"Opening this document will run the following SQL command: SELECT * FROM
[queryname]. Data from your database will be placed in the document. Do you
want to continue?"

On his machine, no such message comes up.

Also, when first connecting the database to the letter, on my machine, I get
a box to choose from which type of database it is - I choose MDE (second
choice), on his machine, even starting from scratch, there is not prompt to
choose.

Could any of this be related to the unstable conditions we are seeing on his
machine? The other processors have the same version of Word as he does, and
it does not reliably run on his machine, so I cannot release it.

Thanks.

Hi Peter -

Unfortunately, it is still the same database that is giving me problems.
I did confirm that I am on SP 3, and end users are on SP2. We are doing an
upgrade this morning so that we are all on SP3. The article you led me to was
helpful in determining that the message screen I get (and users don't) is
because of the difference in SP. It was introduced in SP3, and is OK for them
to click through - I guess this symptom is what led me look for differences
in the Word version between machines as being a cause for the difference in
performance.

The other symptom (and I am now guessing that this is a SP issue also) is
that when I connect a data source to a mailmerge document, afte the "select
data source" screen, I get a screen prompting to

Confirm data source: ( I choose)
MS Access Databases via DDE (*mdb;*mde)

Other choices are -
MS Acces Database via ODBC (*mdb)
Artisan via ODBC (*mdb)

The user machines do not ask for this information. Again, this may just be a
symptom of the SP difference, but it begs the question of performance issues
as related to the different SP. I am hoping that after the upgrade on their
machines, the merge will work more consistently, as on my machine (albeit
still way too slow).

The other related question I have is that, the path linking the Access query
and Word document is hard coded in Access, (as we discussed before), AND it
is defined in the Word MailMerge document by the process described above.
This seems redundant, and like it is very messy (and lengthy?) process. If I
launch the MailMerge letter from Word, it is quite a bit quicker. Should it
be defined in both programs? Could this be part of the problem? Just grasping
at straws at this point......
"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Is this the same database that we discussed a while back? Word XP
(2002)? Are you both also using the same version of Windows and both
using Access XP?

There is a list of fixes in /Word/ SP3 at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/836036/

Although this list may not be complete, none of the items listed seemed
obviously related to this problem. Same for the Access SP3 list.

"Opening this document will run the following SQL command: SELECT * FROM
[queryname]. Data from your database will be placed in the document.
Do you
want to continue?"

On his machine, no such message comes up.

The most likely explanation for this is that his machine has the
registry patch described at

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

and yours does not.

Also, when first connecting the database to the letter, on my
machine, I get
a box to choose from which type of database it is - I choose MDE (second
choice), on his machine, even starting from scratch, there is not
prompt to
choose.

DO you mean in the "Select data source" dialog box? And do you mean the
"Files of type" selection drop-down. Here (Word XP SP3) I see the a list
which starts with

All files (*.*)
All data sources (various extensions including .mde)
Office Data Connections (*.odc)
Access Databases (*.mdb, *.mde)

However, I get the impression you are seeing a different dialog
altogether - can you provide a bit more detail?

Peter Jamieson

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

On 08/10/2009 19:52, 4charity wrote:
I have an access database that I am launching a MailMerge from. The data is
on the server, while the frontend of Access is on my hard drive, as well as
the MailMerge templates. It takes a long time to run, but eventually does. I
have now put the identical front end on one of our processor's machines. It
really struggles to run the MailMerge, and many times crashes the Access
application. I am trying to figure out why it would work on my machine, and
not his. We are both running Word 200, although I have SP3, he has SP2. One
major difference I have seen is that on starting the Word App, I get the
message from Word:

"Opening this document will run the following SQL command: SELECT * FROM
[queryname]. Data from your database will be placed in the document. Do you
want to continue?"

On his machine, no such message comes up.

Also, when first connecting the database to the letter, on my machine, I get
a box to choose from which type of database it is - I choose MDE (second
choice), on his machine, even starting from scratch, there is not prompt to
choose.

Could any of this be related to the unstable conditions we are seeing on his
machine? The other processors have the same version of Word as he does, and
it does not reliably run on his machine, so I cannot release it.

Thanks.

The user machines do not ask for this information. Again, this may
just be a
symptom of the SP difference

This is usually just down to a Word setting -
Tools-Options-general-Confirm conversions at open. With any luck the
users will be able to turn this on, make the connection, then turn it
off again.

Peter Jamieson

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

On 09/10/2009 12:31, 4charity wrote:
Hi Peter -

Unfortunately, it is still the same database that is giving me problems.
I did confirm that I am on SP 3, and end users are on SP2. We are doing an
upgrade this morning so that we are all on SP3. The article you led me to was
helpful in determining that the message screen I get (and users don't) is
because of the difference in SP. It was introduced in SP3, and is OK for them
to click through - I guess this symptom is what led me look for differences
in the Word version between machines as being a cause for the difference in
performance.

The other symptom (and I am now guessing that this is a SP issue also) is
that when I connect a data source to a mailmerge document, afte the "select
data source" screen, I get a screen prompting to

Confirm data source: ( I choose)
MS Access Databases via DDE (*mdb;*mde)

Other choices are -
MS Acces Database via ODBC (*mdb)
Artisan via ODBC (*mdb)

The user machines do not ask for this information. Again, this may just be a
symptom of the SP difference, but it begs the question of performance issues
as related to the different SP. I am hoping that after the upgrade on their
machines, the merge will work more consistently, as on my machine (albeit
still way too slow).

The other related question I have is that, the path linking the Access query
and Word document is hard coded in Access, (as we discussed before), AND it
is defined in the Word MailMerge document by the process described above.
This seems redundant, and like it is very messy (and lengthy?) process. If I
launch the MailMerge letter from Word, it is quite a bit quicker. Should it
be defined in both programs? Could this be part of the problem? Just grasping
at straws at this point......
"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Is this the same database that we discussed a while back? Word XP
(2002)? Are you both also using the same version of Windows and both
using Access XP?

There is a list of fixes in /Word/ SP3 at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/836036/

Although this list may not be complete, none of the items listed seemed
obviously related to this problem. Same for the Access SP3 list.

"Opening this document will run the following SQL command: SELECT * FROM
[queryname]. Data from your database will be placed in the document.
Do you
want to continue?"

On his machine, no such message comes up.

The most likely explanation for this is that his machine has the
registry patch described at

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

and yours does not.

Also, when first connecting the database to the letter, on my
machine, I get
a box to choose from which type of database it is - I choose MDE (second
choice), on his machine, even starting from scratch, there is not
prompt to
choose.

DO you mean in the "Select data source" dialog box? And do you mean the
"Files of type" selection drop-down. Here (Word XP SP3) I see the a list
which starts with

All files (*.*)
All data sources (various extensions including .mde)
Office Data Connections (*.odc)
Access Databases (*.mdb, *.mde)

However, I get the impression you are seeing a different dialog
altogether - can you provide a bit more detail?

Peter Jamieson

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

On 08/10/2009 19:52, 4charity wrote:
I have an access database that I am launching a MailMerge from. The data is
on the server, while the frontend of Access is on my hard drive, as well as
the MailMerge templates. It takes a long time to run, but eventually does. I
have now put the identical front end on one of our processor's machines. It
really struggles to run the MailMerge, and many times crashes the Access
application. I am trying to figure out why it would work on my machine, and
not his. We are both running Word 200, although I have SP3, he has SP2. One
major difference I have seen is that on starting the Word App, I get the
message from Word:

"Opening this document will run the following SQL command: SELECT * FROM
[queryname]. Data from your database will be placed in the document. Do you
want to continue?"

On his machine, no such message comes up.

Also, when first connecting the database to the letter, on my machine, I get
a box to choose from which type of database it is - I choose MDE (second
choice), on his machine, even starting from scratch, there is not prompt to
choose.

Could any of this be related to the unstable conditions we are seeing on his
machine? The other processors have the same version of Word as he does, and
it does not reliably run on his machine, so I cannot release it.

Thanks.