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MS Office Forum / Word / Mailmerge and Fax / January 2007data source with 508 fields
I'm trying to use a textfile (with 508 fields) as a datasource for mailmerge. In Word 2000 this file works, but the same file used in Word 2003/2007 doesn't work (the dot, that uses this file as a datasource is loaded and shown in word, then word hangs / cursor stands still / no reaction on keyboard/mouse ) The same happens, when I open just the textfile with word! No problem with Word 2000, Wordpad, Notepad... but hangs when opened with Word 2003/2007. Thanks for any help! Christoph Arnold I would try the following: a. check Word Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversion at open" and try opening the file again. Please note what format Word thinks it is trying to open b. if you have a virus checker enabled and are in a position to disable it temporarily, try doing that then opening the file. If necessary report the problem to Microsoft through their support incident mechanism (on their website) if you cannot get it to work (other people here may offer suggestions, but we are just volunteers). Peter Jamieson > I'm trying to use a textfile (with 508 fields) as a datasource for > mailmerge. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Christoph Arnold Thanks for your quick response! - I tried with confirm conversion -> word opens it as a normal textfile. - Disabling the virus checker didn't change the behaviour. - When we reported it to MS (two weeks ago), we were told that we can't have more than 256 fields as a datasource for mailmerge, but this week we saw (on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294688/de) that it should be possible to use more fields (we reported this - and the fact that opening just the file fails - again, but still waiting for a response...) Christoph Arnold >I would try the following: > a. check Word Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversion at open" and try [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >> >> Christoph Arnold Most MS datasources (Excel, Access) have this limit. It should not exist with a .csv (text) file.  SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP > Thanks for your quick response! > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] >>> >>> Christoph Arnold The file looks like this (with 3 of the 508 fields): "KUN_Betriebsnummer";"KUN_Branche";"KUN_Bundesland" "";"";"Niedersachsen" so nothing special. It's strange that even opening just the file (without being a mailmerge datasource) doesn't work correctly with word 2003/2007. Christoph Arnold > Most MS datasources (Excel, Access) have this limit. It should not exist > with a .csv (text) file. [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] >>>> >>>> Christoph Arnold I thought from your earlier post that if you checked the "Confirm conversions at open" box, that you could open the file. SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP > The file looks like this (with 3 of the 508 fields): > [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] >>>>> >>>>> Christoph Arnold ah ok, I didn't write that clear, the behaviour of this textfile in word 2003 is always: the file is opened in word, but after a second or so the cursor in word stands still and word doesn't response any more... Christoph Arnold >I thought from your earlier post that if you checked the "Confirm >conversions at open" box, that you could open the file. [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] >>>>>> >>>>>> Christoph Arnold Rading your message again, I think the problem is that the data source is attached to your .dot file. The problem is that in Word 2002/2003, Word seems to try to open the file twice - once when it opens the .dot with the data source connected, and once when it opens the .doc that is created from the .dot. However, when it tries to open the file attached to the .doc, it is already open exclusively and Word cannot open it again. This was not the behaviour in Word 2000. You should be able to test that by disconnecting the data source from the .dot and only connecting it in the .doc. Unfortunately what that usually means is that you have to write an AutoNew macro (or something like that) to open the data source whenever a new .doc is created from the .dot. The thing about the 255 field limit is that it does depend on the data source, but it also depends on the way that Word tries to connect to the data source. In the case of text (csv) type files, Word has three mechanisms: a. its internal text converter b. ODBC c. OLEDB (the default in Word 2002/2003) As far as I know, (b) and (c) will limit you to at most 255 fields. (a) allows more columns, but since there is no specification of the maximum we are basically at the mercy of what Microsoft decides to do in future. Further, when you open a text file as a data source, you may have to force Word to use (a) (again, checking Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversion at open" is the only way to do this in the User Interface. One thing that has certainly changed over the years is the text converter tries to check the character encoding of the file. If it is "not sure", it may pop up an additional dialog box. As far as I know, Word uses a set of heuristics to do this (because nothing in the file explicitly defines the character set being used, and I have certainly heard reports that large numbers of fields or large field contents can trigger display of this dialog box. All you can really do is see what happens on your system(s) and deal with the problem if it occurs. Peter Jamieson > Thanks for your quick response! > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] >>> >>> Christoph Arnold Thanks for the info. Word 2003/2007 seems to do/search something when opening files that look like datasources (after the text converter). When opening just the file (with or without the confirm conversion dialog), the file is always displayed but then after a second word hangs/cursor stands still/no response. Christoph Arnold > Rading your message again, I think the problem is that the data source is > attached to your .dot file. [quoted text clipped - 76 lines] >>>> >>>> Christoph Arnold Can you open the file in Notepad? If not, it may be corrupt in some way. SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP > Thanks for the info. Word 2003/2007 seems to do/search something when > opening files that look like datasources (after the text converter). When [quoted text clipped - 85 lines] >>>>> >>>>> Christoph Arnold Can be opened without problems in: Notepad, Wordpad, Word 2000! The described problems are only when opening the file in Word 2003 and 2007. (I've tested only with these 5 Programs. The problem can always be reproduced with this textfile, it's not only sometimes, it's always when opening with Word 2003/2007) Christoph Arnold > Can you open the file in Notepad? If not, it may be corrupt in some way. > [quoted text clipped - 89 lines] >>>>>> >>>>>> Christoph Arnold One other thought: if you try to save the file from Notepad, what encoding does Notepad think it has - (ANSI? Unicode? etc.) Peter Jamieson > Can be opened without problems in: Notepad, Wordpad, Word 2000! > The described problems are only when opening the file in Word 2003 and [quoted text clipped - 99 lines] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Christoph Arnold ANSI > One other thought: if you try to save the file from Notepad, what encoding > does Notepad think it has - (ANSI? Unicode? etc.) [quoted text clipped - 105 lines] >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Christoph Arnold If you save it from Notepad in UTF-8 format, does that make any difference to what happens when you just try to open the file in Word? Peter Jamieson > ANSI > [quoted text clipped - 108 lines] >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Christoph Arnold I've saved the file now to UTF-8 and Unicode, but same problems when opening with word. > If you save it from Notepad in UTF-8 format, does that make any difference > to what happens when you just try to open the file in Word? [quoted text clipped - 112 lines] >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Christoph Arnold The only remaining suggestion I can make is that if your data file is not confidential and you are willing to e-mail it, I can have a look here (you have to take "KillmapS" out of my e-mail address. I'm using English language Windows XP Pro and Word 2003, but can also start various other Windows/Word combinations. Peter Jamieson > I've saved the file now to UTF-8 and Unicode, but same problems when > opening with word. [quoted text clipped - 115 lines] >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Christoph Arnold Word certainly spends more time opening data sources than it used to. For one thing, it tries to load up to 10000 records and tries to match them against any list of records that the user marked as selected or unselected in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog. Lately, I have also noticed that Word can sometimes behave strangely if it has previously failed to open a document (including text files) and has put it in its list of Disabled Items - it is probably worth looking in Word Help|"About Microsoft Office Word"|"Disabled items..." and re-enabling your file if it is listed. Other than that, I do not know what could be the cause. All I can say is that others have also reported problems dealing with mail merge data sources with large numbers of fields. The only other check I would probably attempt is to redue the number of records (just use 2 or 3) and see what happens then. As for Word 2007, I do not have the release version, but there is no reason to expect that it will have any improvements in this area, and one reason so far to suspect that it might be worse. Peter Jamieson > Thanks for the info. Word 2003/2007 seems to do/search something when > opening files that look like datasources (after the text converter). When [quoted text clipped - 85 lines] >>>>> >>>>> Christoph Arnold |
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