Merge: edit data and header sources (2003 (also tr

[SNissen]

I have dozens of users who use Word merge every day with data downloaded from our administrative systems in tab-delimited format. Most of these users use a separate header file that defines the fields, rather than adding a header record to the top of the data file. The downloaded data files are usually stored on our servers, so from time to time the path to the data file changes. Word 2003 makes it hard to change that data source filename in the main (form) document, and extremely difficult to change the header source filename. (Why isn't this done through Edit->Links?)

Nevertheless, most of the users have been able to change most of the errant pathnames and save their main documents with the changes. But every now and then a user will have a main (form) document that resists saving these changes. You can change the data source filename and header source filename long enough to run the merge, but then when you save the main document, the new pathnames are never saved, no matter when you save or whether you use Save or Save As. We've tried creating a new main document from the contents of the "bad" one, but it doesn't work either. The bad document is not marked readonly (and neither are the other two), and it's open by only one user, who has full read/write/modify rights to the directories in question. The "bad" document was initially created in an earlier version of Word (2002 or 2000), but has been saved in Word 2003. There are no apparent differences between these bad documents and ones that work, even using the same data and header sources.

What else can we try to fix these bad documents? (Recreating from scratch is not always a viable solution; some of them are very complex.) Are there any tools that would help with the data file/header file pathname editing?

I found no help for this in my copy of "Special Edition Using Microsoft Office 2003", nor did I find anything on this in the Microsoft knowledgebase. I'd really love some advice from the experts here. I can supply the documents if someone wants to take a look. Sande

[Phil Rabichow]

Hi Sande:
If it's happening to only one user, then it could be something about his/her profile. Or it could be something in that user's configuration (such as using Tools/Options/Save tab/Fast saves, which should be turned off). I would try the steps listed in <post#=197827>post 197827</post#> & see if any of them make a difference.

[jscher2000]

One other thought. If the network-based resources are being access through a drive mapping, perhaps that mapping is timing out somehow? You could try using UNC notation (serversharefolder) instead and see if that helps.

[SNissen]

Thanks to the hint by jscher2000, we found a workaround: When all three documents (main, header, data) are copied to the local hard drive, we can run the merge correcting the paths, and then save the changes locally.

Of course, that's not a real solution, since the user is unhappy that this one document works differently than all her others. Anyone have any ideas? Sande