My os was recently update to XP and I was able to fix most of my
'recent/resultant' mail merge problems by turning on tools>options>confirm
conversions at Open.   I greatly prefer the DDE connection because it allows
me to have both files open and workable at the same time.  

The above fix has worked on all of my merges but one.  I have a main
document in word and data source in xcl.  I've tried seven ways to sunday to
fix and I am stumped.   It's a merge I've been using reliably for 2+ years.  
When I am opening my main document, it looks like it is making a good
connection then gives me an error "word unable to open data source."

Following another error messages advice, I checked and removed any
'permissions' in the xcl.  No luck.  I've also tried to recreate the main
document and tried to recreate the data document separately, using every
variation of putting the two together,  with limited success.  It will work
just as long as I don't cut and paste data from the old xcl into the new
sheet (if I do it gives me the 'word cannot find it's data source message'
again).  Also, the main document will only see records that are there upon
the initial link, unless closed and reopened.  

I'd rather not retype everything.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

Jenna