Mail Merge Database Error

[Mark Avis]

Hello,
I was at a client yesterday to train them on how to use mail merge. We
are using Windows XP Home with Microsoft Word 2003 and Outlook 2003. I
selected Mail Merge from the Tools menu. Then labels (or any other, I get
the same thing on all). I then select the label and that I want to use
Microsoft Outlook. I get the box asking me which of the Outlook Contact
Lists I want to use. I then get a box asking me for an ODBC Datasource. I
uninstalled the Microsoft Office 2003 Basic and reinstalled. I tried it
again and get the same thing. A Dialog Box comes up asking me for an ODBC
Datasource and does not show me the Contact List from Outlook. Can anyone
help me solve this problem? Thank you very much.
Mark B. Avis

 

[Peter Jamieson]

It surprises me that you are asked for an ODBC datasource. As far as I know,
what actually happens is that Word tries to use an OLEDB connection to the
Jet database engine, which in turn uses a thing called the Outlook IISAM to
get data from Outlook. I can only imagine that Word is failing to open that
OLEDB connection and is then trying to use ODBC instead.

Either way, it doesn't really sound to me if this approach is going to work.
I don't know why - it may be that Office 2003 Basic or XP Home is missing
some of the necessary components (here, I always use the Pro versions so
it's difficult to tell). If you go into Office SETUP to add/remove Office
components, it's probably worth checking to make sure that you are selecting
all the necessary options to do with Mailmerge.

Another approach you could try is to initiate the merge by selecting a
contact folder in Outlook, then using Outlook Tools|Mail merge. This uses a
completley different method to get the data to Word.

 

[Mark Avis]

I took a look at how to do the merge from Outlook. That looks pretty easy. I
might give that a try at the client. But, how do I check Word to see why it
wants an ODBC datasource? Thank you.
Mark B. Avis

 

[Peter Jamieson]

But, how do I check Word to see why it

wants an ODBC datasource?

There is no simple way. You could try using VBA to report the name of the
data source, its connection string and SQL query string, and see if that
sugests an answer Or you can probably get the same info. by using File|Save
As to save the file in HTML format, then use a plain text editor to open it.
Not far from the top you should see a bunch of XML tags that contain the
information on the data source.