mail merge freezing (or hanging )

[Advance Scout]

I have a word mail merge doc that has not given me any problems until
yesterday. When I try to open it it locks up at "waiting for microsoft
excel to accept dde commands" and then the document doesnt open ... it
just freezes.

Heres what I know:
I have multiple copies of the same word doc and spreadsheet- none are
working...but I copied them to another computer and they are working there.

If I start a new spreadsheet with some dummy data and then try to create
a new mail merge envelope in Word the same thing happens- It freezes
when trying to merge. So apparently its either Word or excel thats
causing the problem.... OR another application interfering.

I also tried a system restore to last week when the mail merge was
working and still nothing.

Oh yeah - windows xp and office 97

Any ideas?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I don't know what is wrong, but for starters I would
a. restart my WIndows system and try again
b. verify that Excel Tools|Options|General|"Ignore other applications" is
not checked (it shouldn't be if you have been using Excel 97 as a data
source successfully)
c. create a blank Wored document and insert the following field

{ DDE msword system sysitems }

(using ctrl-F9 to insert the special {} )

then select it and press F9 to execute the field. The result text should be
something like:

SYSITEMS TOPICS FORMATS

(Use Alt-F9 as necessary to toggle between fields and results).

If that works OK, it suggests that DDE is at least functioning.
Unfortunately I have no idea what you should do if it does not work - I
think you might have to check and repair WIndows itself.

Then change the field to

{ DDE excel system sysitems }

then select it and press F9 to execute the field. You will probably be asked
whether or not you want to start Excel. Say you want to start it. The result
text should be something like:

SysItems Topics Status Formats Selection Protocols EditEnvItems

If you don't see that, I suppose I'd conclude that the problem was either in
DDE or on the Excel side of things - you might find better help in an Excel
group if it is the latter.

If you do see that, I think I would try opening one of the Excel workbooks I
was trying to access, change the dde field to

{ DDE excel system topics }

and see if my workbook name appeared in the list.

Anyway, try that and see how far you get.

 

[Advance Scout]

I don't know what is wrong, but for starters I would
a. restart my WIndows system and try again
b. verify that Excel Tools|Options|General|"Ignore other applications"
is not checked (it shouldn't be if you have been using Excel 97 as a
data source successfully)
c. create a blank Wored document and insert the following field

Peter-

actually I had restarted windows on many occasions to no avail.

BUT the follwing seems to have worked: Using my office 97 disk- I
uninstalled both word and excel (didn't remove office 97) and then
performed a shutdown. After rebooting, I reinstalled word and excel.
(still didnt work)... Performed shutdown and reboot. Merge is working
now (I performed multiple reboots to verify)and I am back in business.
Thanks for your help!