Word Mail-merge datasource relocation

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loudsir - 09 Mar 2004 23:05 GMT

Hi there

We are in the process of upgrading the desktops in our network t
Windows XP and Office XP from NT4.0 and Office 2000. As a part of thi
process, the users personal network shares are being mapped to
different drive letter. (changing from H: to U:)

I have a user who has a simple mailmerge letter sitting in U:\m
documents\LOA Letter.DOC

When he opens the document it says
"Cannot find datasource - H:\LOA Data.DOC"

Obviously the mailmerge doc is looking to the old drive letter for th
datasource. How do I change the datasource location? I have looked i
"Tools, Options, File Locations" but there is no mention of mailmergin
or datasources.

Can anyone please help me??

Thanks - Patrick
Auckland, New Zealand

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Peter Jamieson - 10 Mar 2004 07:56 GMT

The trouble is that Word is not looking in a default location - it is
looking at the exact location that was stored in the Word document. So
changing a default location will probably not help. Fixing this
programmatically will be difficult unless you are keeping H: as a
transitional drive letter, in which case it should at least be possible to
open existing merge main documents without seeing error dialog boxes, and
programmatically reconnect to a file on U:. Even then it may be difficult to
retain sort and filter options.

Signature

Peter Jamieson - Word MVP
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org/

> Hi there
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> ------------------------------------------------
> ~~ Message posted from http://www.WordForums.com/

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Lindsey - 10 Mar 2004 16:16 GMT

You just need to go to Tools and Mail Merge. The "Mail
Merge Helper" window should then pop up. Under the data
source option, click "Get Data." Then you can "Open Data
Source" and find the new file. Good luck!

>-----Original Message-----
>
>Hi there
>
>We are in the process of upgrading the desktops in our

network to

>Windows XP and Office XP from NT4.0 and Office 2000. As a

part of this

>process, the users personal network shares are being

mapped to a

>different drive letter. (changing from H: to U:)
>
>I have a user who has a simple mailmerge letter sitting

in U:\my

>documents\LOA Letter.DOC
>
>When he opens the document it says
>"Cannot find datasource - H:\LOA Data.DOC"
>
>Obviously the mailmerge doc is looking to the old drive

letter for the

>datasource. How do I change the datasource location? I

have looked in

>"Tools, Options, File Locations" but there is no mention

of mailmerging

>or datasources.
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>~~ Message posted from http://www.WordForums.com/
>.

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loudsir - 10 Mar 2004 18:21 GMT

BUM

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J. Verdaasdonk - 10 Mar 2004 22:07 GMT

Hi,

Seems a pretty logical thing to do for Word when it encounters a
broken link.

But normaly when you get this message you get the chance to go to th
datasource via the Explorer en then open it? (is this not happening)

When you do that manualy and then save the document the broken link i
fixxed.

To do this whit a template don't double click it to open it, but righ
click and choose open. Then search the datasource relink and save.

Everything should work now?

Enjoy :

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loudsir - 11 Mar 2004 00:06 GMT

Yes, that fixed it...

I was looking at it from the wrong angle, assumed that there was a
global location where word looks for it's data sources.

Don't worry, I am sufficiently embarrassed! :

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