insert merge fields button inactive

[Luise]

i can only use the costumized merged buttons in docs i
created 3 months ago but not in recent ones.
I have successfully followed the steps given in 'mail
merge lables with word xp' from www.gmayor.com and added
the 'missing buttons' as described, to have the old mail
merge helper back from Word 97/2000 3 months ago. But now
it does not work any longer! I am baffled. It works in
documents i made in November and December but not in any i
created in the last 3 weeks.
In the new docs i followed the exact same steps from the
same page to cosutmize the merge tool bar. The addded ones
are visible, but grey and inactive. It makes no difference
if the doc is locked or unlocked, etc. (I never managed to
change it 'centrally' therefore i do it with each document
which might be wrong but i dont know how else to do it).

Makes me feel insane, does anyone have a solution?
regards,
Luise

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Two things you should check:
a. are your new documents attached to the same template as the older
documents (look in Tools|Templates and Add-ins)?
b. Some mailmerge-related buttons are only enabled when the document is
actually a mail merge document (i.e. if you are using Word 2002/2003 and
click the first icon on the mailmerge toolbar, if the Main Document Type is
"Normal Word Document" then some buttons will not be enabled.
c. some mailmerge-related buttons are only enabled when the document has a
data source attached.

If the problem falls into category (b) or (c) then again I wonder whether
you are starting from a different place from the one you used to use - e.g.
perhaps you open a document, do a File|Save As, and that document is no
longer a mail merge main document, or no longer has a data source attached.

Beyond that, which buttons are disabled? Is this Word 2002 or 2003?