problems w/ outlook 2002 email merge

[marcus]

Please help! I have spent literally HOURS searching groups, web,
microsoft, etc. for an answer.

I am trying to merge about 150 names into an email merge in Outlook
2002/Word 2002 running XP Pro. The process has worked several times
before this instance...Not sure what has changed this time.

Process:
Word 2002 database w/ email, name, and greeting fields
Outlook 2002 using Hotmail
Document created using Mail Merge Wizard - step-by-step
When I arrive at the Electronic Mail section, I choose "HTML", and
"Email" as my "To" field. I click "ok". It files through each
individual name/entry within the Word document on the screen but
nothing shows up in the Outbox or the Sent items of Outlook. It only
shows up when I choose "Plain text"...but then, because of the security
issues, I have to click & wait for each individual email...150 times!
It HAS to be easier!!!
I am able to merge to printer and new document, just not to email.
I have checked the Word database for blank lines at the top, removed
all entries w/o email addresses, made sure the table has a header row,
etc.

Is there something I am not seeing?

Thanks!

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I've seen reports of mails disappearing but I've never seen a surefire
explanation. Some things you
can look at/try
a. can you still use the appropriate Word File|Send To option to send a
single non-mailmerge word file?
b. does your copy of Outlook have any COM Addins installed? See Outlook
Tools|Options|Other|Advanced Options|COM Addins. If so, can you establish
whether or not it is OK to disable them temporarily, then try doing that and
see if that makes any difference?
c. It may be worth running the Outlook data file repair utility called
scanpst.exe. On my system it's in

C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

d. as long as you have your Office XP CDs, you can try a Check and Repair.
(Personally, I'd always try to avoid a full re-install but I suppose it may
come to that - that's the only thing that worked for the last person who
asked about this problem.

If you do find the answer can you please try to post back here?

Peter Jamieson

 

[marcus]

Hello Peter:
Thanks for the help!
a. yes I can send a single non-mailmerged word file using Outlook
b. yes I did disable the COM Addins but it didn't seem to change
anything
c. I ran the scanpst.exe program for all the .pst files in the Outlook
folder (i.e. Hotmail x2 and outlook.pst and personal folders.pst)
d. i also tried running the detect and repair pgm

Unfortunately, none of the above have solved the problem. I even
resorted to completely uninstalling Office and re-installing...but even
that didn't seem to help.

I am beginning to think part of the problem could be a newer version
(unverifiable) of Office a friend installed on my computer could be the
problem. When I saw what he had done, I uninstalled it, but I'm
thinking there may be still files lurking out there that are causing
the problems. The last mail merge I was able to do successfully was
the DAY BEFORE he installed the newer version of office.

I am also having trouble NOW with Hotmail...I tried removing that
"Email Account" and adding it back-in again, but now there are THREE
FOLDERS ENTITLED "Hotmail". On top of that, they are not showing any
new emails I have rec'd within the last two days...basically since I
did the uninstall/reinstall of Office.

Any help would be GREAT!
Marcus 17/November/2006

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Hello marcus,

Sorry, the only other suggestion I can make is that if you are running
Windows XP, you might be able to use Windows Start Tools|Accessories|System
Tools|"System restore" to go back to a situation before your problems
started occurring.

However, in my experience, "system restore" does not always restore things
quite as cleanly as the facility suggests it should. If you are in a
position to back up your entire system so that you can restore it (not
easily verified!) so much the better, otherwise I don't have any other
suggestions, except IMO that you could submit a support incident via the
Microsoft website. frankly, I have seen enough cases of "disappearing merges
to email" that I think Microsoft ought to be willing to have a look
themselves: please point them to this thread if you do that (a few of the
Indian support people may just about remember my name )

Peter Jamieson

 

[marcus]

Hello Peter,

Thanks so much for your speedy reply...and for your good advice. The
situation still looks grim, but I'm still praying for a miracle!

I will try your suggestions...

With sincere thanks,
Marcus