Mail Merge Link (2K SR1a)

[mikemullett]

Hi Woodys Helpers

Is it possible to break the link between a Form letter and a Data source. At the moment I have a lengthy form letter which is attached to a data source, and of course the Form letter is a Mail Merge document.

At the moment I copy the Form letter and Paste it into a new doc, then attach a new Data source. I would like to sever the link of the original doc so that it is no longer a Mail Merge Document.

[carbonnb]

Sure. In the Merge Document, select Tools|Mail Merge...

Then in section 1, clink on the button that says Create and select Restore to Normal Word Document. Click Yes on the message box that pops up, and the click close.

That's it.

[WendellB]

Another solution is to remove just the mail merge source from the document, and save it that way. Then you can set the mail merge source using automation, and change the data source you want to use each time you run the document, whether the source is a Word table, an Excel workbook, Outlook contacts, or an Access database.

[Phil Rabichow]

Hi Wendell:
Could you explain in a little more detail how you would do that with automation & how you remove the data source differently from Bryan's solution? Thanks.

[WendellB]

Sorry, I get a bit terse sometimes. Bryan's solution actually changes the document back into a standard Word document, not a merge document. One of the options you have is to remove the data source from the document so you can actually view and edit the document but preserve the basic mail merge information. If you do that and then save the document, it will always prompt you for a data source when you open it. We actually use this with Automation code so we don't have problems when things get moved around, or when multiple users work with one merge document from different databases. Unfortunately, it gets a fair bit trickier to do this with Word 2002 as they changed the Mail Merge UI and introduced the Mail Merge Wizard. Hope this clarifies things a bit.

[Phil Rabichow]

Hi Wendell:
Thanks for the response. I'm still confused--maybe it's just one of those days (I hope not years <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>). I can change the data source, but I don't see an option for just removing a data source. Is this something that can only be done with VBA?

[KB MacKenzie]

After working with a couple of XP's task panes, I was uncomfortable so I went digging. Undocumented at MS, but still available to add to menus and toolbars are many of the old familiar dialogs. These were my choices:
<UL><LI>Mail Merge Helper; and
<LI>Styles[/list]You can customize your menus and toolbars by going to View / Toolbars / Customize and change to the Commands tab. In the left window select All Commands and in the right find MailMergeHelper and drag it to the tools menu and drop it where you want; then locate styles and drag and drop it onto the Format menu. You can add to existing toolbars if you so choose -- but I'm a member of that dieing breed of keyboarders so prefer using menus.

I like XP's task panes, in general -- but for some things I do prefer the old ways <img src=/S/evilgrin.gif border=0 alt=evilgrin width=15 height=15>.

[KB MacKenzie]

It isn't readily apparent, Phil. If there is an existing data source, you can remove it in the Mail Merge Helper dialog by clicking Get Data / Header Options / Create and then exiting the data source dialog by clicking the X in the top right corner, and exiting the Mail Merge Helper the same way. You now have a Main document without an associated data source.

Edited by Karen <img src=/S/blush.gif border=0 alt=blush width=15 height=15>I misspoke and was reading the helper dialog wrong -- that doesn't disassociate it. However, moving or renaming the original source in Windows Explorer will force the prompt simply because you've broken the link.

[Phil Rabichow]

Thanks, Karen. I'm aware I can cause the prompt by moving the data source. However, I thought Wendell was referring to a way to remove the data source link inside of Word. I keep all my data sources together so I can find them, but I was really curious as to how to change data sources through automation.

[WendellB]

Hi Phil,
Sorry for the delay in responding - I needed to get to a client who we use this process with to get the detailed instructions, and I now realize we were doing something in Access to get Word to give us the options prompt. What we do is:
<UL><LI>Create the document as you would with any other mail merge, specifying the query (or table) to be used in the merge process, and inserting any merge fields and Word fields as necessary.
<LI>Save the document in the appropriate folder and with the desired name.
<LI>Be sure the source database is closed, and then open the document in Word. It will prompt you to start Access, but click the cancel button on the Access login prompt.
<LI>Word will give you an error message or two and then ask you to click either a Find Data Source button or an Options button. Click the Options button, and select the button that says remove the Header and Data Source information, and save the document again.
<LI>Using Windows Explorer, right click on the document name and select Properties, and turn the Read Only check box on.[/list]Note that this whole thing is dependent on Access User Security being active so you can stop the merge process. You should also be able to set the Data Source property to an empty string with VBA and then save the document in VBA. The code would look something like:
<font color=blue> objWord.ActiveDocument.MailMerge.OpenDataSource Name:="", Linktosource:=True, Connection:="QUERY: MyQuery"</font color=blue>

Note that this presumes you are using Automation in another application - and in Word 2002 you would need to specify a DDE connection if you want to use a parameter query. It also turns out that when you say restore to a Normal document under Step 1 of the Mail Merge Helper, it doesn't actually remove the merge fields, so you can effectively do the same process, but unfortunately it doesn't prompt you for a data source when you open it.

Hope this clears things up a bit.

[Phil Rabichow]

Hi Wendell:
Yes, it does clear things up. I'm aware of the prompt when you cancel Access (having accidentally done this more than once <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>). I'll try out the code (soon I hope). Thanks again.