OFF2001: "FileMaker Pro Error: Object Not Found" When You Import More than 500 Entries from FileMaker Pro (276487)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac
  • Microsoft Word 2001 for Macintosh
This article was previously published under Q276487

SYMPTOMS

If you import a database into Excel or use a database as a data merge source in Word, you may receive the following error message:
FileMaker Pro Error: Object not found.
In Word, this error message may be followed by
Word could not finish merging these documents or inserting this database.
and the data may be truncated, with some records not imported.

CAUSE

These problems occur when the following conditions are true:
  • In Excel, you import a FileMaker Pro file by doing the following:

    1. You click the Data menu and click Get External Data.
    2. You select Import from FileMaker Pro.
    3. You finish returning the data to a worksheet.


    -or-

    In Word, you use a FileMaker Pro file as the data source for a data merge document. -and-

  • The FileMaker Pro database contains more than 500 lines or records. -and-

  • The number of rows is not an exact multiple of 500.
The imported records are limited to a block of data that is a multiple of 500 rows. Records beyond that multiple of 500 are not imported. For example, if there are 839 records, 500 records are imported. If there are 1,839 records, 1,500 records are imported. This problem does not occur when you import a Tab-Separated Text file or Comma-Separated Text file created in FileMaker Pro.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, export the file in FileMaker Pro as a text file, and use the text file in Excel or Word. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. In FileMaker Pro, open the FileMaker Pro database that you want to import into Excel or Word.
  2. On the File menu, click Export Records.
  3. In the Export Records to File dialog box, select either Tab-Separated Text or Comma-Separated Text under Type, give your file a new name, and then click Save.
  4. In the Specify Field Order for Export dialog box, either select the individual fields under Current File and click Move, or click Move All and then click Export.
  5. Open the saved text file in Excel, or, in Word, use the file as the database source for your data merge.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

In Excel, after you import the FileMaker Pro database, you may see a list with a list frame that contains the number of rows for the expected number of records, but all records beyond a multiple of 500 are blank.

How to Import a Text File into Excel

  1. Start Excel and open a new workbook.
  2. On the File menu, click Open. In the Open dialog box, under Show, click All Readable Documents, select the file that you converted in FileMaker Pro, and then click Open.
  3. In the Text Import Wizard, select Delimited if it is not selected, and then click Next.
  4. In step 2 of 3, click to select either Tab (if the file was saved as Tab-Separated Text) or Comma (if the file was saved as Comma-Separated Text). If the correct separator is selected, you should see lines separating columns correctly in the Data preview box.
  5. Click Next if you want to format columns for a specific data type in step 3 of 3, or click Finish.
  6. All fields saved in the text file should be imported into Excel. If you want to save the file as an Excel workbook, click Save As on the File menu, change the Format to Microsoft Excel 2001 workbook, and give the file the name that you want. This saves the imported data with any formatting changes that you make and with other characteristics of an Excel workbook, rather than the more limited characteristics of a text file.

REFERENCES

For more information about data merge in Word, follow these steps:
  1. On the Help menu, click Contents and Index, click Index, and then click M.
  2. Scroll down until you locate merge, and then click the arrow to the left to view a list of topics under the general topic.
  3. Click Overview of data merge.
If you cannot find the information that you want, ask the Office Assistant.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/7/2003
Keywords:kbbug kbpending KB276487
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.