Word 2007 - "word was unable to open the data source"

[Tom Koski]

This is the only error I get when trying to open an excel data source in Word
2007 mailmerge document. This is a Vista Enterprise 64 system - the same
document and spreadsheet works fine on my Win XP Pro 64 system...

The spreadsheet is a simple single sheet workbook with 10 columns and 9
rows, although I have tried it with more complex multi-sheet workbooks, with
the same results. In fact, I can't get it to open ANY kind of data source.

Any ideas?

Hopefully,
Tom

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I don't know much about Vista 64 Enterprise, but I understand that it is
"optimised for security" in various ways. I wonder whether on that system,
the ACE (Access) OLE DB provider that Word would normally use to open an
Excel workbook is actually installed, or disabled in some way. (I find that
slightly difficult to believe if Access is installed, but I suppose it is
possible). That said, Word should then "fall back" to using ODBC (even less
likely to be installed) and then DDE (which might also be disabled, or even
absent, in that configuration). You could see if the ACE provider is there
by going to Word Select Recipients->Use existing list->New Source, select
other/Advanced, click Next, and see if the ACE provider is listed.

A simple test to ensure that it isn't simply /all/ Mail merge data sources
that fail would be to copy/paste your Excel table into a Word document, save
and close, then try to use that as the data source. Or just create a small
table in an empty Word document with a row contaiining column headers and a
few rows of data, and try to use that.

 

[Tom Koski]

First of all, after a week of fighting with this with three different
documents, this morning it works fine... after I checked to make sure that
the ACE provider was indeed installed.

Same document, same source, different day. No reboot, no updates. Arrgh.

In any event, thanks for the reply.

In Puzzlement,
tom
--
Thomas Koski
Coastline Exploration, Inc.

I don't know much about Vista 64 Enterprise, but I understand that it is
"optimised for security" in various ways. I wonder whether on that system,
the ACE (Access) OLE DB provider that Word would normally use to open an
Excel workbook is actually installed, or disabled in some way. (I find that
slightly difficult to believe if Access is installed, but I suppose it is
possible). That said, Word should then "fall back" to using ODBC (even less
likely to be installed) and then DDE (which might also be disabled, or even
absent, in that configuration). You could see if the ACE provider is there
by going to Word Select Recipients->Use existing list->New Source, select
other/Advanced, click Next, and see if the ACE provider is listed.

A simple test to ensure that it isn't simply /all/ Mail merge data sources
that fail would be to copy/paste your Excel table into a Word document, save
and close, then try to use that as the data source. Or just create a small
table in an empty Word document with a row contaiining column headers and a
few rows of data, and try to use that.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I suppose it's just possible that even just checking was enough to cause
something to be enabled/installed on demand, all that kind of stuff.

--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

First of all, after a week of fighting with this with three different
documents, this morning it works fine... after I checked to make sure that
the ACE provider was indeed installed.

Same document, same source, different day. No reboot, no updates. Arrgh.

In any event, thanks for the reply.

In Puzzlement,
tom

 

[Tom Koski]

OK - real wierdness here - if I copy the file to OfficeLive and open it from
there and save it locally again, mailmerge breaks. If I start with the
original file, it works. Seems that something in the OfficeLive
storage/retreival process breaks it...

Ahh, the mysteries of Office. Some things never change. (A user since
version 2 -and list numbering still does not work intuitively).

Thought I would let you know.

Thanks,
tom

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Ahh, the mysteries of Office. Some things never change. (A user since

version 2 -and list numbering still does not work intuitively).

Quite!

In my view there seems to be a lot of security-related weirdness these days,
but I have no idea if this is a sample. I wonder if round-tripping a
"compatibility mode" Word 97-2003 format .doc works better in your scenario?
I'm not an OfficeLive user.