WD97: Word Mail Merge Starts Second Instance of Access (224697)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
This article was previously published under Q224697

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a mail merge from Microsoft Word and use a Microsoft Access database, multiple instances of Access may be started. When you close Word, some instances of Microsoft Access do not close.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when the following conditions are true:
  • You use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to connect to your database.

    -and-
  • The Application Title of your Access database has been changed so that it does not start with Microsoft Access.
By default, when you use DDE to connect to your Access database, Word checks to see whether Microsoft Access is running. If Access is found, DDE then checks to see whether the database file is open. To do this, DDE checks for an open window (it checks the Application Title of the open window) that contains the string beginning with "Microsoft Access." If Word does not find a match for both of these criteria, it starts a new instance of the database program and then opens your database file.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem when you use Dynamic Data Exchange to connect to your Microsoft Access database file, upgrade to Microsoft Word 2000.

WORKAROUND

To prevent multiple instances of Microsoft Access being started when connecting to your database file, use one of the following methods:

Method 1: Use ODBC

Connect to your Access database using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Create the mail merge main document. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the Tools Menu, click Mail Merge.
    2. Click Create. Click to select the type of mail merge main document you want to create.
    3. Click either Active Window or New Main Document.
  2. In the Mail Merge Helper, click Get Data and then click Open Data Source.
  3. In the Open Data Source dialog box, click the Select Method check box. Select the *.mdb file you want to use, and click Open.
  4. In the Confirm Data Source dialog box, click MS Access Database via ODBC (*.mdb) and click OK.
  5. In the Select Table dialog box, select the table you want to use and click OK.

Method 2: Delete Your Database Application Title

If you modified the Application Title in your Access database, use the following steps to remove the Application Title:
  1. In Microsoft Access, open your database file.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Startup.
  3. In the Startup dialog box, delete the contents of the Application Title box and click OK.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.  This problem was corrected in Microsoft Word 2000.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/14/2000
Keywords:kbbug kbinterop kbmerge KB224697
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