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MS Office Forum / Word / Mailmerge and Fax / August 2005SQL Prompt When opening merged documents
Hello. I've read KB 825765 so I understand when and why I get prompted with the "Opening this will run the following SQL command" message when you open a Word mail merge main document that is linked to a data source. However, I do not understand why I get prompted for the document after the merge has run and my new document has been created and saved. When I close and reopen the newly created document, I still get the prompt. There is obviously a data attachment still existing. Is there any way to break that attachment? I may not be understanding clearly how the merge process worked. I thought it brought data into the new document and that's it. Is it continuously going to the data source to get the data? Any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Jennifer Dickens Are you sure that you have actually executed the merge to a new document? I suggest that you select Toolbars from the View menu and then check the mailmerge item to display the mailmerge toolbar, then use the buttons on the Right Hand end of the toolbar to execute the mailmerge.  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 > Hello. I've read KB 825765 so I understand when and why I get prompted > with [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Thanks, > Jennifer Dickens Yes, I'm pretty sure that the merge has been executed. Typically, when you have not executed the merge, most of the toolbar buttons are available to you. You can also see the field shading (I have mine set to Always). In this completed document, there are no shaded fields appearing and the only mailmerge toolbar buttons available are Main Document Setup and Open Data Source. So it clearly seems to me that it has merged. However, it's insistence on prompting to connect to the data source on open proves otherwise. What could be keeping the connection? Jennifer : Are you sure that you have actually executed the merge to a new document? : [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] : > Thanks, : > Jennifer Dickens If you toggle on the field codes in the document (Alt+F9) what do you see? Any mergefields? 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 > Yes, I'm pretty sure that the merge has been executed. Typically, when you > have not executed the merge, most of the toolbar buttons are available to [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > : > Thanks, > : > Jennifer Dickens Is your document based on (associated with) a template (.dot) that is connected to a data source? If so, you might recieve this message in recent versions of Word because when the template opens, it tries to connect to the data source. Peter Jamieson > Yes, I'm pretty sure that the merge has been executed. Typically, when you > have not executed the merge, most of the toolbar buttons are available to [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > : > Thanks, > : > Jennifer Dickens I think this must be what's happening. The weird thing is that one time I got it to work right. But I can't remember how. :-O : Is your document based on (associated with) a template (.dot) that is : connected to a data source? If so, you might recieve this message in recent [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] : > : > Thanks, : > : > Jennifer Dickens Don't know if that is what has happened, but if it is and you do not need your mail merge main document to be connected to this template, disconnect it, or alternatively, disconnect the template and set up the connection in a VBA AutoNew macro if you know how to do that. In many cases, the sensible thing to do when dealing with mailmerge is to develop your mail merge main document, connect it to its data source, associate it with the normal.dot template, then save it, and avoid using a special template - it's not how Word is really supposed to work, but it probably causes fewer problems with mailmerge, unless, for example, you need to use fields such as ASK, FILLIN, and (especially) CREATEDATE, which tend to work differently when you create a new document from a template. > recieve can't believe I used that spelling, even by accident! Peter Jamieson >I think this must be what's happening. The weird thing is that one time I > got it to work right. But I can't remember how. :-O [quoted text clipped - 72 lines] > : > : > Thanks, > : > : > Jennifer Dickens I really do need the mail merge to be connected to the template. That's the whole point of this exercise. My user has a letter that he has to complete several times a day, but never in a big batch job. It's always a single letter at a time. The text is the same on the letter with the exception of a few fields such as name, title, university, etc. Previously in Word 2000, I created a template with 2 macros and several data fields in it. The first macro is an AUTONEW macro that inserts a calculated date at a bookmarked location. The date is based on the CREATEDATE which is also inserted when the template is opened. The second macro (MergeFromExcel) is a very simple recorded macro which consists of opening the data source, finding the named range, and merging the data. The data fields are in the template already, so the macro runs through and dumps the data into the document, leaving me with a completed merged document that has a createdate, a calculated date, and my 6 fields pulled from the excel spreadsheet. We have just upgraded to 2003 recently. So with this template, everything is working OK now but two things. One is that when I run the MergeFromExcel macro, I get prompted to select the table. This was previously included in the macro. This I can fix by rerecording the macro or editing it if I'm really clever. (I don't know any VBA, which limits my abilities.) The second problem is a larger problem. The completed merged documents seem to be retaining both their macros and their database connection. So when I open one of the completed documents, I'm promted to enable/disable macros and I'm also prompted with the SQL warning. What's really weird about Word 2003 is that it seems to remember some of the data connections, sometimes, but it's not consistent. What's up with that? So, anyway, it seems to me that I do need the merge associated with the special template. There may be a real obvious answer to this problem that I'm missing. Any advice? : Don't know if that is what has happened, but if it is and you do not need : your mail merge main document to be connected to this template, disconnect [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] : > to : > : > you. You can also see the field shading (I have mine set to Always). : > In : > : > this [quoted text clipped - 56 lines] : > : > : > Thanks, : > : > : > Jennifer Dickens First, if you open the Template (e.g. using Word File|Open, rather than creating a new document based on it), is it connected to the data source? (e.g. if you display the MailMerge toolbar using Tools|Customize, a. are most/all the buttons after the first two greyed out? b. if you click the first button, what type of document is selected?) Second... > One is that when I run the MergeFromExcel > macro, I get prompted to select the table. This was previously included in > the macro. ...does your macro issue an OpenDataSource call? If so, can you copy/paste the code for that call into a message in this thread? <<The completed merged documents seem to be > retaining both their macros>> I'll look at this separately. Peter Jamieson >I really do need the mail merge to be connected to the template. That's the > whole point of this exercise. My user has a letter that he has to complete [quoted text clipped - 164 lines] > : > : > : > Thanks, > : > : > : > Jennifer Dickens : First, if you open the Template (e.g. using Word File|Open, rather than : creating a new document based on it), is it connected to the data source? : (e.g. if you display the MailMerge toolbar using Tools|Customize, : a. are most/all the buttons after the first two greyed out? : b. if you click the first button, what type of document is selected?) If I open the template (rather than creating a new doc based on the template) I am prompted with the SQL prompt. If I choose No, then all the buttons but the first two are grayed out and Normal Word Doc is selected as the Main Document Type. If I choose Yes, then all the buttons are available and Letters is selected as the Main Document Type. (Good questions!) : Second... : [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] : ...does your macro issue an OpenDataSource call? If so, can you copy/paste : the code for that call into a message in this thread? I don't know. Below is the code in the Macro (both macros, actually). It's a recorded macro, nothing fancy. I figured I could re-record the macro to fix this problem. It's the problem mentioned below that I don't know how to fix. Sub AutoNew() ' ' AutoNew Macro ' Macro created 12/18/2003 by Jennifer Q Dickens ' Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:="DueDate" Selection.InsertBefore Format((Date + 14), "d MMMM, yyyy") End Sub Sub MergeFromExcel() ' ' MergeFromExcel Macro ' Macro recorded 2/19/2004 by Scot J dobson ' ActiveDocument.MailMerge.MainDocumentType = wdFormLetters ActiveDocument.MailMerge.OpenDataSource Name:= _ "K:\AA documents\SRC IP Tracking spreadsheet.xls", ConfirmConversions:= _ False, ReadOnly:=False, LinkToSource:=True, AddToRecentFiles:=False, _ PasswordDocument:="", PasswordTemplate:="", WritePasswordDocument:="", _ WritePasswordTemplate:="", Revert:=False, Format:=wdOpenFormatAuto, _ Connection:="CurrentData", SQLStatement:="", SQLStatement1:="" With ActiveDocument.MailMerge .Destination = wdSendToNewDocument .MailAsAttachment = False .MailAddressFieldName = "" .MailSubject = "" .SuppressBlankLines = True With .DataSource .FirstRecord = wdDefaultFirstRecord .LastRecord = wdDefaultLastRecord End With .Execute Pause:=True End With End Sub : <<The completed merged documents seem to be : > retaining both their macros>> : : I'll look at this separately. I think I love you. :) Thanks. : Peter Jamieson : >I really do need the mail merge to be connected to the template. That's the [quoted text clipped - 165 lines] : > : > : > : > Thanks, : > : > : > : > Jennifer Dickens > If I open the template (rather than creating a new doc based on the > template) I am prompted with the SQL prompt. OK, in that case I suggest you open the template, go through your connection process, then click the first button, select the "Normal Word Document" option, and save the template. At least that should stop the /template/ from trying to connect when it loads. > I don't know. Below is the code in the Macro (both macros, actually). It's > a > recorded macro, nothing fancy. I figured I could re-record the macro to > fix > this problem. Always worth a try - unfortunately I don't think re-recording will help as Word records this stuff very badly. > It's the problem mentioned below that I don't know how to > fix. OK, the key statement is this one - I'll just chop out stuff I'm pretty sure is not needed for starters: ActiveDocument.MailMerge.OpenDataSource _ Name:="K:\AA documents\SRC IP Tracking spreadsheet.xls", _ Connection:="CurrentData", _ SQLStatement:="" The main questions are a. does this need to work in Word 2000 as well as Word 2003 - if so, is it easy for you to maintain two different versions? Or does it just need to work in Word 2003? b. are you connecting to a named range called CurrentData? Is it in the first sheet in your Excel workbook? > : <<The completed merged documents seem to be > : > retaining both their macros>> > : > : I'll look at this separately. ...eventually :-) Peter Jamieson > : First, if you open the Template (e.g. using Word File|Open, rather than > : creating a new document based on it), is it connected to the data [quoted text clipped - 289 lines] > : > : > : > : > Thanks, > : > : > : > : > Jennifer Dickens : > If I open the template (rather than creating a new doc based on the : > template) I am prompted with the SQL prompt. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] : option, and save the template. At least that should stop the /template/ from : trying to connect when it loads. This works beautifully. When I first started messing around with this I thought for a little while that I could just keep changing the data in the data source (it's a short row of data) and then every time I opened the template the data would already be there. This seemed like a very cool option. However, the side effect of that was that the documents I saved from the templates still kept the data connection, which was no good. : OK, the key statement is this one - I'll just chop out stuff I'm pretty sure : is not needed for starters: [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] : b. are you connecting to a named range called CurrentData? Is it in the : first sheet in your Excel workbook? No, it only needs to work in 2003. Yes, we are connecting to a named range called CurrentData and it is in the first sheet of the workbook. In the MS Help, it says the following: Restore a mail merge main document to a regular document By removing the associated data source from a main document, you can convert it to a regular document. 1.. Open the main document from which you want to remove the data source. 2.. On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Mail Merge. 3.. Click Main Document Setup . 4.. Click Normal Word document. OK, so I tried this on one of these completed documents and the radio button is already set to Normal Word Document. It may be helpful to explain what I'm doing. I have a letter that has form fields in it. These fields relate back to an excel spreadsheet. When the user wants to create a new letter, he updates the fields in the spreadsheet. He is typically creating one letter at a time, not many. The fields are manually entered into the spreadsheet in one location, and they are copied from that location to a temporary place in the spreadsheet. That way he can keep a record of the letters he's sent, but has a separate page in which he can paste one row of data for a single merge. The Word template is associated to the data, and the location of the data always remains the same. It must be something about the template, the way it stores the connection to the data fields... : Hello. I've read KB 825765 so I understand when and why I get prompted with : the "Opening this will run the following SQL command" message when you open [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] : Thanks, : Jennifer Dickens There are better ways of doing what the user wants. One is contained in the last of the following series of articles: Please Fill Out This Form Part 1: Create professional looking forms in Word http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=22 Part 2: Adding Automation to your Word forms. http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=46 Part 3: Learn more VBA (macros) to automate your forms. http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=119 Part 4: Use custom dialog boxes in your Word forms http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=127 Part 5: Connect your AutoForm to a database to save input time and keep better records! http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=136 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 > In the MS Help, it says the following: > Restore a mail merge main document to a regular document [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] > : Thanks, > : Jennifer Dickens We're using Excel, not Access. Will this work the same? Do I use this library for the connection: Microsoft ActiveX Data Object 2.5 Library? Also, I do not want to automatically input data from my form into the database. I only want the data to come from the spreadsheet into the letter. Does the example to which you pointed me allow me to have this sort of one-way connection? Thanks, Jennifer : There are better ways of doing what the user wants. One is contained in the : last of the following series of articles: [quoted text clipped - 73 lines] : > : Thanks, : > : Jennifer Dickens |
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