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"Word was unable to open the data source" error in Mail Merge.

Good Morning,

 

MS Word/MS Excel 2010

I've created mail merges in the past with excel as my selected "recipient".  Here are the steps I'm using but nothing is working.

 

1- Mergefield inserted <MERGEFIELD Name\*MERGEFORMAT>

2- Select recipients, use existing list, desktop, and select Excel document

3- Confirm Data Source opens (click show all and then select MS Excel Worksheets via DDE(*xls)  If I open normally, using "OLE DB Database Files" the entire file opens but I want to select Names that are in Column B, titled Name

4- Click ok

5- In "Named or cell range" I'm typing "Name" and then OK and get the error "Word was unable to open the data source".

 

The Excel document is closed.  I'm trying to Merge the Excel columns titled Name with Word for Tent Cards.  I have one column named "Instructor Name", one column "Member Name", one column "Candidate Name" and the last one "Facilitator Name".   I want to be able to Merge anything with "Name" in the header.

 

Thanks in advance

MM

I can't imagine this working. It is looking for a named range as the data source, not column titles.

Instead select all four columns as your range and name it in the Excel file. Pick that name as the source.

Then, create your Merge with one of your column headings as the merge field name.
<MERGEFIELD Instructor_Name>

Note the underscore in the name. Your name should be continuous characters without spaces.

Here's a starting place:
Mail Merge


Volunteering to "pay forward" the help I've received in the Microsoft user community.


Charles Kenyon
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
wordfaq[at]addbalance[dot]com

Legal site: https://addbalance.com

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Thank you Charles.  I was hoping there was a solution instead of grouping them all but I will work it this way.  Thanks again.

MM

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Last updated March 21, 2024 Views 8,132 Applies to: