Data link properties

[MarkN]

Hello,

I don't know whether this is the correct place to post this issue, but here
goes anyway. Having migrated from Windows and Office 2000 to XP and Office
2003, I am getting the Data Link Properties dialog appear every time I mail
merge data stored in an Access 97 database. I run the mail merge from a menu
within the database. The Word window appears, the Data Link Properties box
appears on the screen, I can click OK or cancel on the dialog and the merge
runs correctly.

My question is how can I permanently stop this Data Link Properties
appearing on the screen.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you mean the dialog box that says Confirm Data Source, then this can be
turned off from Tools > Options > General > Confirm Conversion at Open -
However, Word 2003 connects to its data in a different manner from Word
2000. The results may therefore not be the same - see
http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm and
http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm if you run into problems.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Peter Jamieson]

Can you try the following:
a. make a copy of the mail merge main document
b. open it and go through the dialogs
c. enable the mail merge toolbar (Tools|Customize)
d. click the first button on that toolbar, not the merge document type, and
select Normal Word Document. This disconnects the data source and removes
any sort/filter information
e. save and close the document
f. re-open the document.
g. click on the first button in the mail merge toolbar and select the
document type you noted in step (d)
h. click on the second button in the mail merge toolbar, and locate and
open your data source. if you see a dialog asking you to Confirm Data
Source, select the OLEDB option (if you want the default connection type for
Word 2003) , or if you happen to know you need another connection type,
select it.
i. test the merge
j. save and close the document
k. try opening it again...

(NB, if you see unexpected formatting of numbers or dates in (i), it is
likely that the connection type has now changed. You will find plenty of
info. on this subject if you search this group on Google Groups, e.g. using
Peter Jamieson Access ODBC OLEDB DDE)

FWIW, OLEDB connections to Access 97 databases in Office 2003 work OK here,
but DDE connections (which is what Word 97 would have used by default)
result in an additional question being asked because Access 2003 cannot
update Access 97 format databases. It may be that this is the origin of this
problem but I don't know for sure. Because you can't update your Access 97
databases (as far as I know) I have to guess that you no longer need to
maintain these data source, in which case it /may/ be worth creating copies
of them and converting thee copies to a more up-to-date Access format for
use with software such as Word.

Peter Jamieson