Mail Merge Compatibility

[Guest]

Sorry for leaving out an important fact in my previous
post. I'm using Word 2003 and my secretary is using Word
97. As previously noted, Word 97 cannot work with
an .mdb file from Word 2003. Is there any way to save
the file in a format in Word 2003 that will be accesible
in Word 97?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

If you have Access 2003 as well, you could try
a. create your address list .mdb
b. open it in Access
c. use Tools|Database Utilities|Convert database to convert to Access 97
format. That creates a new database

I haven't tested that all the way - you will almost certainly see some
messages on the way - I'd try a test run, dismiss the messages, and see if
the Access 97 database can be used as a data source on your secretary's PC.

Another approach that does not require Access would be to create your
address lists just using a simple Word table with the address fields you
need (and the field names in row 1 of the table). Jst type the data directly
into the table. If you can save the .doc and your secretary can use it as a
data source, so much the better. If not, you may need to use File|Save As to
save in .rtf format or Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF (.doc) format.