Mail Merge locked field?

[Kristy Lytle]

When using mail merge, I received an error while trying to merge to printer.
It stated that Word was unable to update locked fields. I didn't know any
fields were locked, and I don't know what fields are locked, or how to show
which fields are locked, or how to unlock them. I never had this problem
before when using mail merge before this.

Any ideas?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

You have probably got a graphic or other object in your document, and you
probably had Word Tools|Options|General|"Automatically create drawing canvas
when inserting AutoShapes" checked when you inserted it. In that case, what
happens is that Word inserts a { SHAPE } field that
a. you cannot see very easily (normally, to see field codes, you can press
Alt-F9 but I don't think it will work in this case)
b. causes the error you mention.

If that sounds plausible, what you probably need to do is delete the
shape(s), uncheck that Option, re-insert the shapes and try again.

If it isn't that, maybe you could say what else is in your document other
than text and merge fields.