Merge from Access fails with "read only" message

[Carol Grismore]

When I try to do a "transfertext" from Access to a Word template, I get a
"document is read only" message from Word.
When I open the template, I do not get the message about establishing a data
source, and it has some test data in it.
I guess at some point I must have responded "Yes" to a "save" message. That
was clearly a mistake! Is there a way to undo it, so that my template is
just a template, with no preconceived notions about what data to include?
TIA.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

First, I'd make a copy of you're template until the problem is sorted.

You can "disconnect" a data source by
- opening the template (i.e. open the .dot/.dotx/.dotm, not a new document
based on it)
- setting the merge document type to be "Normal Word Document". In Word
2007, the option is in the Mailings tab->Start Mail merge. In Word XP and
2003, enable the Mail merge toolbar (View->Toolbars), click the first
button, and select the option there. In Word 2000 and earlier, use the first
option in the MailMerge Helper.

The template will lose any notion of what type of merge it is.