Merge Word XP and Excel XP

[Jean Pereira]

Recently upgraded from Office 2000 to Office XP and had a
merge set up with regular field codes to bring in info
from Excel.

In XP only the first 255 chars in any cell is merged. How
do you increase the character limit?

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Jean,

Recently upgraded from Office 2000 to Office XP and had a
merge set up with regular field codes to bring in info
from Excel.

In XP only the first 255 chars in any cell is merged. How
do you increase the character limit?

Is this the same merge document, or a newly-created merge?

In Office 2000, when you opened such a saved mail merge
document did it also open Excel? (I'm trying to determine
which connection method was used.)

FWIW, I tested this the other day for someone, with 300
characters in a cell. And it worked fine in Word 2002. I note,
however, that the Excel file was NOT created in an earlier
version of Excel...

And does the same happen when you open this kind of mail
merge document in Word 2002?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow
question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Jean Pereira]

-----Original Message-----
Hi Jean,

Is this the same merge document, or a newly-created merge?

In Office 2000, when you opened such a saved mail merge
document did it also open Excel? (I'm trying to determine
which connection method was used.)

FWIW, I tested this the other day for someone, with 300
characters in a cell. And it worked fine in Word 2002. I note,
however, that the Excel file was NOT created in an earlier
version of Excel...

And does the same happen when you open this kind of mail
merge document in Word 2002?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow
question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

.
This is the same Word document, created in 2000 and

opened in XP. We also use a doc management system
(iManage)to create, open, save and close docs and it
doesn't seem to mind the Excel doc being opened when you
do the merge. I'm pretty sure we were using ODBC as the
connection method. The Excel info originates in 2000. It
then gets saved in XP and comments added - which is the
field that is often more than 255 chars. I think we are
still using ODBC in XP - cant see any ref to DDE.

I tried starting off with a blank worksheet and
copying/pasting all info in from Excel 2000 and then
saving it in XP but I had the same results when I merged.

Had some success when I just copied a few cells containing
more than 255 chars and saved that in XP and merged it in
Word. Didn't work when I copied all the info or the whole
column so maybe there's some formatting that's being
copied over when you either copy whole thing or an entire
column/row.

Sorry this is so long but I was trying to give you all the
info

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Jean,

This is the same Word document, created in 2000 and
opened in XP. We also use a doc management system
(iManage)to create, open, save and close docs and it
doesn't seem to mind the Excel doc being opened when you
do the merge. I'm pretty sure we were using ODBC as the
connection method. The Excel info originates in 2000. It
then gets saved in XP and comments added - which is the
field that is often more than 255 chars. I think we are
still using ODBC in XP - cant see any ref to DDE.

My question about the Excel file being open had to do with
whether Word is using an ODBC or a DDE connection to the
Excel data. When there's a DDE connection Word automatically
opens the Excel application as soon as you open the mail
merge document.

To find out which connection method is actually being used
(for excel it could be one of four in Office XP, or of three
in earlier versions):
- Help/About Microsoft Word
- Click "System info"
- Drill down under the entry for Microsoft office
applications through Word, mail merge.
- Take a look at the connection string (the "Notable" entry).
- Click on this line to select it, then Edit/Copy.
- Paste the information into your reply

I tried starting off with a blank worksheet and
copying/pasting all info in from Excel 2000 and then
saving it in XP but I had the same results when I merged.

So, this test was a new merge in Office XP? And you didn't
specifically choose any particular connection method? That
would mean an OLE DB connection.

If you activate "Confirm conversions on open" in
Tools/Options/General, then link up to such a test data
source (that's not working) in a new Word document you should
be prompted for the type of connection to use. If you now
choose ODBC (or DDE or the internal spreadsheet converter)
does that work?

Had some success when I just copied a few cells containing
more than 255 chars and saved that in XP and merged it in
Word. Didn't work when I copied all the info or the whole
column so maybe there's some formatting that's being
copied over when you either copy whole thing or an entire
column/row.

To test this, try exporting the Excel file in delimited text
format, then import this (via the Data menu) into a new Excel
workbook. Is the merge more successful?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow
question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail