Mail/Merge Letters Problem in Database

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carol
  • Start date Start date
C

Carol

Hi!,
Background:
I took over an Access Database from a person that left
the company that produces mail merge letters. The
letters are stored on the co. shared drive. To Merge the
letters, the user would have to select the menu option in
the access database to produce the letter:
For Example
Acknowledgement Letters is an option on the menu executed
by a macro which would locate where the Letters are
stored. User would:
- Click on Acknowledgement Letters/Enter Password or Click
Read only/the Letter pops up.

I made changes
a) To the mail merge letter while in the Access Database
which is fine.
b) Also, a data source was missing – such I updated the
datasource so the mail merge was able to work.

Problem:

This database is located on my “h” drive at work. My own
personal stuff. I moved the exact same version to the G:
Drive – The Shared Drive. So, the users could access the
database I made a update to .

However, once the database is moved to the shared drive I
can’t get the letters to work properly.
I get this error message :
ACKFORMS.DOC is a mail merge main document. Word cannot
find it’s data source. USRLOG-H.mdb. (This is the name of
the database).
This option works fine on my hard drive but once I move
to the shared drive it no longer execute properly!
Several other letters have the same problem ?

Menu Options that worked correctly ( I didn’t make any
changes ) on my hard drive do not work correctly on the
shared drive. This is the exact same database, I don’t
understand what’s going on and would hope somebody could
point me in the right direction..

Thanks for any information.

Carol
 
There are 3 ways to handle your problem.

1. Use UNC (Universal Naming Convention) or mapped drives that are enforced
in a logon script. put the Word.doc in that single place and code everything
to that place. That's good, except it can lock out a second user of the
file, and it can allow users to change the one and only main file. I've
written schemes that unprotect, write the data and protect the template, but
they are messy.

2. Use a specific location on each user's machine to put a copy of the
database front-end and all the necessary Word templates. That's the method I
prefer. It has a few drawbacks: a. There can be a loss of control over what
goes into the document. b. Changes require updating every machine.

3. Create an asp document on a corporate intranet and don't use Word at all.
Drawback: Much more expensive and only a developer can create the document.

Unless you are a big corporation, and have a staff of full time developers,
method #2 will be the most logical choice.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads:
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
 
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