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Old 03-14-2014, 12:02 PM
meganadand meganadand is offline "word was unable to open the data source" error Windows 7 64bit "word was unable to open the data source" error Office 2010 64bit
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Hi,



I have used a specific file the last 4 months for my mail merge. All of a sudden it stopped working... ??? I didn't do anything different that I have before. When I try to import the data into mail merge, none of my tables show up (see attachment). Then, when I select "ok", it tells me that Word is unable to open the data source.

Any suggestions???

Thanks!
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File Type: jpg 2014-03-14 13_56_08-Document1 - Microsoft Word.jpg (16.2 KB, 36 views)
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Old 03-14-2014, 12:23 PM
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I note your profile says you're using Office 2010, but the error message refers to an .xls format worksheet, which is the older format. Are you sure your workbook is still in the .xls format and hasn't been changed to the newer .xlsx format?
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Old 03-14-2014, 12:35 PM
meganadand meganadand is offline "word was unable to open the data source" error Windows 7 64bit "word was unable to open the data source" error Office 2010 64bit
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You're right. The error message refers to an .xls format, but the document is in and .xlsx format. What do I need to do to fix it and why did that change?
Here are the document properties:
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Old 03-14-2014, 12:40 PM
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Simply select the correct file as the data source, save the updated file, then continue as before. For example (assuming you're still getting the SQL prompt upon opening the document), when the 'Data Link Properties' dialogue pops up, simply add the missing 'x' to the end of the file extension.
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Old 03-14-2014, 12:45 PM
meganadand meganadand is offline "word was unable to open the data source" error Windows 7 64bit "word was unable to open the data source" error Office 2010 64bit
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Thanks, but I already tried that - it won't let me edit the file extension. Any other suggestions?
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Old 03-14-2014, 01:12 PM
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The 'Connections' panel on that dialogue allow you to change the entire file path & name, if need be - but the change won't be saved. For a permanent update, simply answer 'No' to the initial SQL prompt when you open the document, then use 'Select Recipients' on the Mailings tab to navigate to and select the correct workbook.
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Old 02-27-2020, 11:25 AM
Jax2000 Jax2000 is offline "word was unable to open the data source" error Windows 10 "word was unable to open the data source" error Office 2010
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The exact same thing happened to me!! I figured what was wrong. May be your issue as well:
Check your other sheets in your document. One of the other sheets was hi-lighted to be copied and it was saved that way by mistake. Once I un-highlighted the cell on the other sheet, my mail merge went through perfectly.
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