OL2002: You Cannot Open the Personal Address Book As a Data Source When You Use Mail Merge from Word (278182)

SYMPTOMS

When you create, a mail merge document in Microsoft Word 2002 and you use an existing list of recipients (for example, the Personal Address Book), you cannot navigate to the default location of the Outlook 2002 Personal Address Book (.pab) file.

The following is the default location of the Outlook 2002 Personal Address Book (.pab) file:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the Local Settings folder is a System folder, and it is not visible to users. Power Users and Administrators on Microsoft Windows NT can see the folders correctly.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, locate the Outlook 2002 Personal Address Book (.pab) file in a folder that is accessible by users. The file could be located on a network share, for example.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, import the Personal Address Book (.pab) to the Contacts folder, and use the Outlook Address Book when you use the Microsoft Word Mail Merge feature. To do this:

On the File menu, click Import and Export.
In the Choose an action to perform box, click Import from another program or file, and then click Next.
In the Select file type to import from box, click Personal Address Book, and then click Next.
In the Select destination folder box, click Contacts, and then click Next.
Follow the rest of the steps in the wizard.

STATUS

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