Many extra pages appearing from Excel mail merge

[Tara H]

I have an Excel workbook with 4 sheets. These sheets all contain names,
addresses and account numbers. The data is roughly as follows:

Sheet 1:
Number Name Address
1 A 1a
2 B 2b
3 C 3c

Sheet 2:
Number Name Address
4 D 4a
5 E 5b
6 F 6c
7 G 7g
8 H 8h
9 I 9i


Sheet 3:
Number Name Address
4 D 4a
8 H 8h
9 I 9i

Sheet 4:
Code Name Address
90 Bank1 1
90 Bank2 2

I did a letter mail merge in Word using sheet 3 Excel file as the data source.
When I preview the results by pressing the button with <<abc>>, I get 40
results, which is the correct number, and the correct names are displayed as
I scroll through. But when I merge (to printer or file), I get the following
results:

4 D 4a
1 A 1a
2 B 2b
3 C 3c
8 H 8h
1 A 1a
2 B 2b
3 C 3c
9 I 9i
1 A 1a
2 B 2b
3 C 3c

In other words, all of Sheet 1 is merged in between every single row.

Does anyone know what is happening here and if there is anything I can do
about it?

Thanks,
Tara

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I don't know what is happeneing, but which version of Word and Excel, and
which method are you using to connect? (You can change methods in Word 2000
and earlier by checking "Select method" in the Open Data Source dialog box
and choosing DDE, ODBC, or the converter. You can change methods in Word
2002 and later by checking Word Tools|Options|General|Confirm conversions at
open and re-connecting to the data source, and selecting the method you
want).Typically, you will only be able to connect to the sheet you most
recently had open when you use DDE.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Tara H]

Hi Peter - it was Word and Excel XP. I don't know which connection method it
was using, I just clicked on the data source button on the mail merge
toolbar. I don't have those files (or that machine) any more, I'm afraid,
but I'm still kind of curious to know what happened.

Thanks,
Tara

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I don't have those files (or that machine) any more, I'm afraid,

Wow! That one went through the window fast!

but I'm still kind of curious to know what happened.

I remember that feeling well! However, there are so many ways in which
things can go wrong that these days I try to confine my curiosity to the
cases where there is some chance of finding out what caused the problem,
which generally requires that someone is in a position to experiment, and
even in those circumstances it's frequently easier to start from scratch and
see if the problem goes away with a new set of files etc.

Peter Jamieson