Mail Merge Recipients in Access Query Problem

[Rich]

I have a MS Word template that uses mail merge directed
to an Access Database query. When I select the Mail
Merge Recipients button, I see a list of all the fields
and records in the query. I had set this up in MS Office
XP Professional using the mail merge wizard. I have
another computer on the same network that has MS Office
2000 Professional. Instead of the mail merge wizard it
has Mail Merge under the Tools menu, but despite being
able the select the same query, I cannot get Mail Merge
Recipients to show the fields and records of the query.
Is there a fix for this?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Word 2000 does not have the Mail Merge Recipients dialog, which was
introduced in Word XP/2002. Another significant difference from Word XP is
that Word 2000 does not have any facility to let you select that individual
records should be included in/excluded from the merge.

The nearest equivalent is to click the "Edit Data SOurce" button on the
mailmerge toolbar. If you have connected to the data using the default
method (DDE), then Access will be running and Word will request Access to
open a query results window and - I hope - switch the focus to that window.
However, if you connect using ODBC, then Access cannot be assumed to be
running and Word will prompt you to open the query using MS Query. Then,
a. if you respond "Yes", Word should initiate MS Query if it has been
installed, and display the query columns and rows. In some cases you may
even be able to edit the data in the data source (Records|Allow Editing I
think) and return the updates to Word (see the appropriate option on the
file menu). But IMO it is wise to keep your dealings with MS Query simple
and to a minimum.
b. if you respond "No", you get into completely different territory (Word
offers to break the link with the database, which is shorthand for "I'll
extract the data from the database, put it in a file, and make that file the
data source for your merge).