Mail Merge - How to create data source using Word 2007?

[Cindy]

In Word 2003 there are header source, data source that I can work with. With
Word 2007, I don't see that option. I ended up only create my mail merge doc
and the dat file (which it does not give me an option to save as a Word doc).
When I try to open and print this mail merge document, it says it cannot
find it. Any idea?

Thanks!!

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Yes, by default in Word 2007 (and Word 2003) Word lets you create an "Office
Address List", which is a special kind of Access .mdb. When I create one of
those here, all I see when I re-open my mail merge main document is the
prompt about "opening this file will run the following SQL command" or
whatever it says. If I accept that, the file opens.

You can still get back the old WOrd "Mail Merge Helper" by going to Office
Button->Word Options->Customize, then select All Commands in the drop-down,
locate Mail Merge Helper in the list, and drag it to the right hand column.
Then, the Helper should appear in the Quick Access Toolbar to the right of
the Office button (or wherever you located it). However, I cannot say that I
have actually used the old Helper in Word 2007 and in particular, do not
know if the Header Source facilities still work as they did before.

NB, at the moment there is a problem in Word 2007 which means that if you
have a data source such as a aWord .doc located on a network share, you
probably will not be able to save any changes you make to that source in the
MailMerge Edit Recipients facility.

Peter Jamieson