Hi Charlene

OK, I just tested in Word 2003 and the little box when you click on the
"Find Recipient" link in the Mail Merge Wizard task pane does work for me. If
I have "any field" activated, it finds whatever I type in the box. If I
activate "this field", then choose a field from the list, it also works.

Assuming, of course, that what I type actually exists in the data.

For my test, I used a database created in Word (this would be an Access
database), and I linked up using the default OLE DB method.

FWIW, I know the functionality doesn't work if you try to use it in a macro.
So you might try this, to see if that's an issue in your case:

1. close Word

2. Hold down CTRL and start Word again. This puts it into Safe Mode, which
may look a bit odd.

3. Open a mail merge document where you've had this problem, and see if it
still occurs, or if it works correctly. But do be sure that what you're
looking for does actually exist, just the way you're typing it, in the data!
Word won't "guess" or look for a best match, or anything like that.

 -- Cindy