Merging with Different Version of Outlook

[DonnaP.]

We recently upgraded to Outlook 2003 but left Word at version 2002. Needless
to say, we are running into a few issues with compatibility. Since we are on
different versions, is there any kind of workaround we can use for merging
Outlook contacts with a Word document? What I did for one user is export her
contacts to an Excel document and mapped the fields. Is this the easiest
workaround?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Is this the easiest

workaround?

With worlarounds, "easiest" is typically the one you managed to do, since it
works and you understood how to do it

How were you trying to connect tot he data - starting with Outlook or with
Word? Is the necessary contacts folder definitely marked as being in the
Outlook Address Book?

However, assuming that the problem is that you can no longer use select
contacts in Outlook and use Outlook Tools|"Mail Merge..." to do the merge,
another possibility may be to use Access instead of Excel to get the data.
It's only simple if the user has Access on their system (although I thing
the same thing can be acheived using VBA), but what you do is:
a. create a blank Access database
b. click File|"Get External Data"|"Link Tables"
c. in the Files of Type dropdown at the bottom of the Link dialog box,
select Outlook(). Eventually you should see a list of contact lists, address
folders and so on. Select the one you want.
d. follow the dialog through and you should end up with a linked table in
Access - let's say the table is called mycontacts1
e. Use that as the data source for the merge. If that does not work, create
a query in Access called contacts1 that simply gets all the rows and columns
from mycontacts1 (in SQL, it's something like SELECT * FROM [mycontacts1]

I don't know if this will work in the scenario you describe but if it does,
the advantage over the Excel solution is that you don't need to do any
exporting - when you use the Access table/query, you should always get the
up-to-date data automatically.

One more thing: when you get data from Outlook this way, the fields and
field names will probably be different from the ones that you used if/when
you initiated the merge from Outlook's Tools|Mail Merge facility.

Peter Jamieson

 

[DonnaP.]

What's even better is the user I'm helping understood the procedure as well

We tried it both ways. When we begin the merge from Outlook, we receive the
message: "To use this feature, you must install the version of Microsoft
Word that matches the installed version of Microsoft Office Outlook."

When we try it from Word, we choose Outlook Contacts but then she only sees
the contacts of one of the attorneys she works for (where she is a delegate
and can see them her contacts list from Outlook).

I confirmed that her Outlook contacts is marked as being the Outlook Address
Book. I didn't know if there was a file that needed to be deleted to clear
the information. If not, I think the Access solution will work for this user.

Is this the easiest
workaround?

With worlarounds, "easiest" is typically the one you managed to do, since it
works and you understood how to do it

How were you trying to connect tot he data - starting with Outlook or with
Word? Is the necessary contacts folder definitely marked as being in the
Outlook Address Book?

However, assuming that the problem is that you can no longer use select
contacts in Outlook and use Outlook Tools|"Mail Merge..." to do the merge,
another possibility may be to use Access instead of Excel to get the data.
It's only simple if the user has Access on their system (although I thing
the same thing can be acheived using VBA), but what you do is:
a. create a blank Access database
b. click File|"Get External Data"|"Link Tables"
c. in the Files of Type dropdown at the bottom of the Link dialog box,
select Outlook(). Eventually you should see a list of contact lists, address
folders and so on. Select the one you want.
d. follow the dialog through and you should end up with a linked table in
Access - let's say the table is called mycontacts1
e. Use that as the data source for the merge. If that does not work, create
a query in Access called contacts1 that simply gets all the rows and columns
from mycontacts1 (in SQL, it's something like SELECT * FROM [mycontacts1]

I don't know if this will work in the scenario you describe but if it does,
the advantage over the Excel solution is that you don't need to do any
exporting - when you use the Access table/query, you should always get the
up-to-date data automatically.

One more thing: when you get data from Outlook this way, the fields and
field names will probably be different from the ones that you used if/when
you initiated the merge from Outlook's Tools|Mail Merge facility.

Peter Jamieson

We recently upgraded to Outlook 2003 but left Word at version 2002.
Needless
to say, we are running into a few issues with compatibility. Since we are
on
different versions, is there any kind of workaround we can use for merging
Outlook contacts with a Word document? What I did for one user is export
her
contacts to an Excel document and mapped the fields. Is this the easiest
workaround?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

What's even better is the user I'm helping understood the procedure as

well

Absolutely

We tried it both ways. When we begin the merge from Outlook, we receive
the
message: "To use this feature, you must install the version of Microsoft
Word that matches the installed version of Microsoft Office Outlook."

No way around that I suspect unless there is some clever registry tweak that
makes Word 2002 look like Word 2003 from Outlook's point of view. No idea,
but I doubt it.

When we try it from Word, we choose Outlook Contacts but then she only
sees
the contacts of one of the attorneys she works for (where she is a
delegate
and can see them her contacts list from Outlook).

I have to say that that suggests to me that the Access method I suggested
may not be able to see all the necessary contacts either. I suppose you will
find out aas soon as you try it. I've never got to grips with the
"delegates" stuff in Exchange and have no idea what's going on internally.
The only thing I would suggest is that it /may/ make a difference what type
of Exchange connection she has, whether her .pst has been upgraded or not,
and perhaps whether her Outlook profile has been recreated or not.

Peter Jamieson

What's even better is the user I'm helping understood the procedure as
well

We tried it both ways. When we begin the merge from Outlook, we receive
the
message: "To use this feature, you must install the version of Microsoft
Word that matches the installed version of Microsoft Office Outlook."

When we try it from Word, we choose Outlook Contacts but then she only
sees
the contacts of one of the attorneys she works for (where she is a
delegate
and can see them her contacts list from Outlook).

I confirmed that her Outlook contacts is marked as being the Outlook
Address
Book. I didn't know if there was a file that needed to be deleted to
clear
the information. If not, I think the Access solution will work for this
user.

Is this the easiest
workaround?

With worlarounds, "easiest" is typically the one you managed to do, since
it
works and you understood how to do it

How were you trying to connect tot he data - starting with Outlook or
with
Word? Is the necessary contacts folder definitely marked as being in the
Outlook Address Book?

However, assuming that the problem is that you can no longer use select
contacts in Outlook and use Outlook Tools|"Mail Merge..." to do the
merge,
another possibility may be to use Access instead of Excel to get the
data.
It's only simple if the user has Access on their system (although I thing
the same thing can be acheived using VBA), but what you do is:
a. create a blank Access database
b. click File|"Get External Data"|"Link Tables"
c. in the Files of Type dropdown at the bottom of the Link dialog box,
select Outlook(). Eventually you should see a list of contact lists,
address
folders and so on. Select the one you want.
d. follow the dialog through and you should end up with a linked table
in
Access - let's say the table is called mycontacts1
e. Use that as the data source for the merge. If that does not work,
create
a query in Access called contacts1 that simply gets all the rows and
columns
from mycontacts1 (in SQL, it's something like SELECT * FROM [mycontacts1]

I don't know if this will work in the scenario you describe but if it
does,
the advantage over the Excel solution is that you don't need to do any
exporting - when you use the Access table/query, you should always get
the
up-to-date data automatically.

One more thing: when you get data from Outlook this way, the fields and
field names will probably be different from the ones that you used
if/when
you initiated the merge from Outlook's Tools|Mail Merge facility.

Peter Jamieson

We recently upgraded to Outlook 2003 but left Word at version 2002.
Needless
to say, we are running into a few issues with compatibility. Since we
are
on
different versions, is there any kind of workaround we can use for
merging
Outlook contacts with a Word document? What I did for one user is
export
her
contacts to an Excel document and mapped the fields. Is this the
easiest
workaround?

 

[DonnaP.]

I didn't try re-creating her Outlook profile. You're right . . . that may do
the trick. Thanks for all your help today!

What's even better is the user I'm helping understood the procedure as
well

Absolutely

We tried it both ways. When we begin the merge from Outlook, we receive
the
message: "To use this feature, you must install the version of Microsoft
Word that matches the installed version of Microsoft Office Outlook."

No way around that I suspect unless there is some clever registry tweak that
makes Word 2002 look like Word 2003 from Outlook's point of view. No idea,
but I doubt it.

When we try it from Word, we choose Outlook Contacts but then she only
sees
the contacts of one of the attorneys she works for (where she is a
delegate
and can see them her contacts list from Outlook).

I have to say that that suggests to me that the Access method I suggested
may not be able to see all the necessary contacts either. I suppose you will
find out aas soon as you try it. I've never got to grips with the
"delegates" stuff in Exchange and have no idea what's going on internally.
The only thing I would suggest is that it /may/ make a difference what type
of Exchange connection she has, whether her .pst has been upgraded or not,
and perhaps whether her Outlook profile has been recreated or not.

Peter Jamieson

What's even better is the user I'm helping understood the procedure as
well

We tried it both ways. When we begin the merge from Outlook, we receive
the
message: "To use this feature, you must install the version of Microsoft
Word that matches the installed version of Microsoft Office Outlook."

When we try it from Word, we choose Outlook Contacts but then she only
sees
the contacts of one of the attorneys she works for (where she is a
delegate
and can see them her contacts list from Outlook).

I confirmed that her Outlook contacts is marked as being the Outlook
Address
Book. I didn't know if there was a file that needed to be deleted to
clear
the information. If not, I think the Access solution will work for this
user.

Is this the easiest
workaround?

With worlarounds, "easiest" is typically the one you managed to do, since
it
works and you understood how to do it

How were you trying to connect tot he data - starting with Outlook or
with
Word? Is the necessary contacts folder definitely marked as being in the
Outlook Address Book?

However, assuming that the problem is that you can no longer use select
contacts in Outlook and use Outlook Tools|"Mail Merge..." to do the
merge,
another possibility may be to use Access instead of Excel to get the
data.
It's only simple if the user has Access on their system (although I thing
the same thing can be acheived using VBA), but what you do is:
a. create a blank Access database
b. click File|"Get External Data"|"Link Tables"
c. in the Files of Type dropdown at the bottom of the Link dialog box,
select Outlook(). Eventually you should see a list of contact lists,
address
folders and so on. Select the one you want.
d. follow the dialog through and you should end up with a linked table
in
Access - let's say the table is called mycontacts1
e. Use that as the data source for the merge. If that does not work,
create
a query in Access called contacts1 that simply gets all the rows and
columns
from mycontacts1 (in SQL, it's something like SELECT * FROM [mycontacts1]

I don't know if this will work in the scenario you describe but if it
does,
the advantage over the Excel solution is that you don't need to do any
exporting - when you use the Access table/query, you should always get
the
up-to-date data automatically.

One more thing: when you get data from Outlook this way, the fields and
field names will probably be different from the ones that you used
if/when
you initiated the merge from Outlook's Tools|Mail Merge facility.

Peter Jamieson

We recently upgraded to Outlook 2003 but left Word at version 2002.
Needless
to say, we are running into a few issues with compatibility. Since we
are
on
different versions, is there any kind of workaround we can use for
merging
Outlook contacts with a Word document? What I did for one user is
export
her
contacts to an Excel document and mapped the fields. Is this the
easiest
workaround?