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bobsing060797Flag for United States of America

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Problems with Mail Merge with OL 2003 (& Word 2003)

I have a couple of problems running a mail merge in OL 2003.  Ultimately, my goal is to record a macro to simply run labels (Avery 5160) on contacts found in a view I have set up in my OL 2003 Contacts.

First, I tried to start a mail-merge (using OL 2003 Contacts) in Word 2003.  There I ran into the problem that in Step 3 of 6 in the Mail-merge Wizard, when I selected "Select from Outlook Contacts" and then clicked "Choose Contacts Folder", I get the error message
"Unable to obtain list of tables from the data source".  

Then I tried starting the merge in OL.  I ran into a much smaller problem this direction.  The addresses on the labels did not have the postal codes.  So, I clicked the "match fields" button and matched "Postal Code" with "ZipPostal_Code" in the pull-down box and saved the file which I named labels3x.doc.
Unfortunately, whenever I closed labels3x.doc and then ran a mail merge again from OL, I found the "Postal Code" without a matching field.  

The final problem I had was that after all of the steps to print labels, I was more convinced than ever that I wanted to end up with a simple macro for my non-computer savy wife to use to print labels.  How can this be done when I have to move from OL to Word to complete the process.  

Thanks for your help.  
Avatar of Brian Mulder
Brian Mulder
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for your first problem you could've a look at

OL2002: Cannot Connect to Outlook Contacts Folder in Word Mail Merge by Using a New Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=278158

not exactly the setup but it sounds likewise
Avatar of bobsing060797

ASKER

I read the article you suggested.  Here is my situation.  

1.  I double-checked and OL is set as my default email program in IE.  
2.  It is when I do have OL 2003 open while doing a mail merge within Word 2003 that I immediately get the error message
"Unable to obtain a list of tables from the data source. "
3.  When I do not have OL open before starting a mail-merge within Word, I first get a dialog asking me to Choose a Profile.  There is only one choice in the drop down box.  It is "Microsoft Outlook Internet Settings".  When I click OK at that point, I then get the same error message.
"Unable to obtain a list of tables from the data source."
One person I chatted with (in the MS Word area) said she did not think I should be asked for a profile unless I was setup for an exchange server.  I am a single user and do not use Microsoft Exchange.  

What now?
Avatar of slink9
slink9

Do you have the list you are trying to use set up to be used as an address book?
Yes, I do.  To check I right-clicked my main contacts folder, selected properties and then the "Outlook Address Book" tab.  On that tab I have the "Show this folder as an e-mail address book" box checked.  

One other bit of data:  In Word in the mail-merge wizard, step 2 of 6 I select "start from an existing document" and select my document "labels3x.doc" which has Avery labels 5061 selected and the address-block inserted.  

At that point I get a popup that tells me that "Opening this document will run the following SQL command: Select from c:\...\Temp\OMMC.doc     Data from your database will be placed in your document.  Do you want to continue?"

When I click  OK, it gives me dialog entitled "File Conversion -OMMC.doc".   It asks me to "select the encoding that makes your document readable" and has "Other Encoding" (and in the box "Unicode") selected.  

When I click OK.  It brings up the exactly same dialog with the same things selected.  When I click OK again, it continues.  

Does that explain anything?
It sounds like you are using an incompatible source file.  If that were the case it would not merge.  
What type of PST is in OL2003?  Is it 2000,2002 version or the new format?  I don't know how you can tell from the file name.  Both types have a PST extension.
I am pretty sure it is the new format.  And I think that is why it requires the unicode conversion.  But I am not sure.  

Also, while looking for the answer to your question, I saw something else that may be relevant.  On the Contacts Properties "General" tab, there is a checkmark next to "Automatically generate Microsoft Exchange views."

If I do NOT use Microsoft Exchange, should that be unchecked?  Could that be causing the problem?  
I don't think it would cause a problem, but you can uncheck it anyway.
Try creating an old format PST file and then import into it from the other.  Then try a mail merge.  It could be that mail merge does not work properly with the new format.
How do I create an old format PST file?
I don't have OL2003 here at work.  I can tell you the steps when I get home.
You go through the procedure for creating a new PST file and one of the questions is which format to use.  If you need exact steps it will be a few hours before I can get them for you.
OK I have now created a pst file with the format used by '97-02 and am sure that my former one was indeed the new format of '03.  
Now, how do I open the new empty pst file and import the old data into it?  
Once again working from memory.  I believe the option to open a PST is under Tools-Options.
Sorry I could not find how to open a pst.  I guess I will wait until you get home for help on that.  
It is under Tools-Options-Mail Setup-Data Files.  You can create a new one or open one that already exists.
OK I have used that screen to create 2 pst files with the old format.  However, when I use it to open either of them, I am asked to select a program with which to open them.  When I select OL 2003, it either opens an untitled and unaddressed email message with an attachment of the new pst file or it causes the computer to freeze up (using Win XP Pro).  

So, I need more help opening the newly created pst file.  Thanks.  


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slink9

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Bad News, Good news, and 2 resulting questions:

Bad News - Your instructions were very clear (I was missing the step of changing the "Deliver Email to" selection.)  However, I followed it exactly and got the same results as before.

Good News - While awaiting this email I went snooping ti figure out what I was missing and found another possible cause of the problem.  Under Email Accounts| Directories and Address books, I had another MAPI address book besides the "Outlook Address Book".  When doing what you suggested failed to correct the problem, I went back to that address book (something I no longer needed) and deleted it.    Now the mail merge works with the OL Contacts.  

Resulting questions:
1.  Now in step 3 of 6 of the mail merge when I try to match fields, I get choices of only Icon, File as, Company, Original Display Name, Home phone, Home Address, Display Name, and (not matched).  Before, I got more than 20 choices, some of which I need.  How do I get the other choices?
2.  I recorded a macro to do the mail merge (the ultimate objective as I described in my original post).  When I ran it, I got runtime error message #4605.  "This method or property is not available because the current mail merge main document needs a document source."  How do I correct this condition, so the macro will run?  

Thanks for the help.





Slink9,
Did I commit a mortal faux paux in the wording of my last comment, or did my resulting questions just move out of your many areas of expertice?  

I appreciated your help up to this point and fully thought the resulting questions (at least one of them) would be very easy for you because of the vast knowledge you had demonstrated.  I wanted to get a bit more help on my ultimate task of a macro to print labels before awarding the points.  

Can you help any more?  
Bob
No.  I just forgot to come back to it.
It sounds like the data source is corrupt.  Can you open that data source and verify that all of the data is there and in working order?
When I recorded the macro which yields this error message, I selected "Select from Outlook Contacts" and then Choose Outlook Folder".  

I have not found any problems working with my Contacts folder in OL.  The only thing I can think of in that regard is that my "existing document" that I use to set up the labels calls for an address block and not all of the contacts in my contacts folder has a "snail mail" address.  Some are mainly names and email addresses.  

Could that be it?
It is asking for a document source.  That would seem to indicate that there is no data source open or it is corrupt.  The corrupt option appears to have been eliminated.  That would leave the data source not being open.  Does it work when done manually?
Yes, as I recorded the macro, I followed the same process to do the mail merge that I follow when I did the mail merge successfully.  

Unfortunately, I am not an expert at VBA.  So, I do not know if the VBA code recorded is accurate.  
I believe there is a problem with macro recording and filenames.  I am pretty much out of ideas now.
bruintje, do you have any suggestions?
slink9

I am going to go ahead and award the points to you.  Although the comment I am going to select did not fully solve my problem, it did teach me something truely useful and I have not gotten any further help with this question.  

Thanks for yoru help on this.  I am going to post another question attacking the problem from another angle.  Perhaps you or somebody else can solve my problem from that angle.  Thanks again.