WD2000: ErrMsg in Letter and Envelope Mail Merge w/ Excel DDE

ID: Q198388

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word 2000

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a mail merge in Microsoft Word 2000 using a Microsoft Excel worksheet as your data source using a dynamic data exchange (DDE) connection, the following error message may appear:

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

When you click Details, you receive the following message:

WINWORD caused an invalid page fault in module WINWORD.EXE at <address>

CAUSE

This problem occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

You are creating a mail merge document that combines both a form letter and an envelope.

-and-

You are using an Excel worksheet as your mail merge data source, and you select "MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls)" as the data source.

-and-

You click Cancel on the Envelopes And Labels dialog box, and then click Envelopes And Labels on the Tools menu a second time. Or, you click Print Preview on the File menu.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use any of the following methods.

Method 1: Using the DDE Connection

Before clicking Envelopes And Labels on the Tools menu, select the mail merge fields in the document that you also want to be added to the envelope.

On the Edit menu, click Copy.

On the Tools menu, click Envelopes And Labels.

On the Envelopes tab, press CTRL+V to paste the mail merge fields into the Delivery Address box.

Click Add To Document.

Proceed with the mail merge.

Method 2: Use a Connection Method to Excel Other Than DDE

When setting up the mail merge document, select a connection method to Excel other than DDE. To do this, follow these steps:

On the Tools menu, click Mail Merge.

Under Data Source, click Get Data, and then click Open Data Source.

Click to select the Select Method check box.

In the Confirm Data Source dialog box, click to select the Show All check box. In the Open Data Source list, select either "Microsoft Excel Worksheet via Converter (*.xls; *.xlw)" or "Microsoft Excel Files via ODBC (*.xls)".

Method 3: Use Separate Mail Merge Documents

Create the form letter and envelope in two different mail merge main documents. Use the same worksheet as the data source for both documents.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

REFERENCES

Additional query words:


Keywords          : kbdta wd2000 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: May 13, 1999