Merge doc not saving link to excel file linked via DDE

Peter,

As soon as you open the document you get the usual window indicating that it
is going to do a query but I can't tell if it trying to or not but I suspect
it is trying to connect.

How could I tell if the DDE system was the problem? Is there any known way
to repair that?

I will try the repair option as well though.

Thanks,
Jason

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

> Are you seeing the messages in Word that suggest it is /trying/ to connect?
> (in that case, Word probably is retaining the connection information and it
> is more likely that something is broken, perhaps even in the Windows DDE
> system).
>
> It is probably worth trying Word->Help->Detect and Repair or the Word 2007
> equivalent.
>
> --
> Peter Jamieson
> http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
>
> "Jason Hand" <Jason Hand.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:BCE7E195-8A6E-4DC0-B09C-3616EA18331C@microsoft.com...
> > Word merge documents that have been working for more than a year are all
> > of
> > the sudden no longer holding the link to the excel file that is the merge
> > data via DDE. I tried changing to OLEDB and it holds but we lose the
> > formatting and really need it to stay DDE. When it says that it can't
> > locate
> > the .xls file I can browse to it and reconnect if via DDE just fine, but
> > after saving the document and bringing it back up the link is broken again
> > and it can't find it. No windows or office updates have been applied
> > recently and I have tried to even create a new excel file and link it to
> > an
> > existing Word doc and use DDE and it doesn't hold either. Any ideas what
> > changed or is wrong?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jason
>
>

<<
As soon as you open the document you get the usual window indicating that it
is going to do a query
>>

That's the question about SQL? If so, does the connection fail /immediately/
after you respond to that message or does it take a while (say 30-60
seconds) ?

If it's immediate, it probably isn't anything to do with DDE.

If it takes a while, I would suspect it's trying to connect. Whether the
problem is actually then DDE or something else I couldn't say. But,
a. I would use Alt-tab to ensure that Excel has not popped up any dialog
boxes (sometimes they appear behind Word).
b. I do not think this is likely to have changed unless someone has
introduced an Excel workbook with code to change it, but look at Excel
Tools|Options to ensure that Excel is set up to respond to DDE requests.

<<
How could I tell if the DDE system was the problem?
>>

Other than that, one thing you can do is insert a DDE field - e.g. press
ctrl-F9 for the special {}, then type

DDE WINWORD SYSTEM SYSITEMS between the {} to give you

{ DDE WINWORD SYSTEM SYSITEMS }

Select that, press F9 to evaluate the field, and use Alt-F9 if necessary to
see the result. You should see something like

SYSITEMS TOPICS FORMATS

If so, that will tell you that Word is managing to connect "to itself" via
DDE, i.e. that at least some of DDE is functioning.

You could try

{ DDE EXCEL SYSTEM SYSITEMS }

and see what happens...

<<
Is there any known way
to repair that?
>>

I've never got that fa so I don't really know...

(NB I will probably be offline from Mon. to Fri.)

--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

"Jason Hand" <JasonHand RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1833B43F-BFB7-4D81-B366-2B7CDFE0D7E0@microsoft.com...
> Peter,
>
> As soon as you open the document you get the usual window indicating that
> it
> is going to do a query but I can't tell if it trying to or not but I
> suspect
> it is trying to connect.
>
> How could I tell if the DDE system was the problem? Is there any known
> way
> to repair that?
>
> I will try the repair option as well though.
>
> Thanks,
> Jason
>
> "Peter Jamieson" wrote:
>
>> Are you seeing the messages in Word that suggest it is /trying/ to
>> connect?
>> (in that case, Word probably is retaining the connection information and
>> it
>> is more likely that something is broken, perhaps even in the Windows DDE
>> system).
>>
>> It is probably worth trying Word->Help->Detect and Repair or the Word
>> 2007
>> equivalent.
>>
>> --
>> Peter Jamieson
>> http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
>>
>> "Jason Hand" <Jason Hand RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:BCE7E195-8A6E-4DC0-B09C-3616EA18331C@microsoft.com...
>> > Word merge documents that have been working for more than a year are
>> > all
>> > of
>> > the sudden no longer holding the link to the excel file that is the
>> > merge
>> > data via DDE. I tried changing to OLEDB and it holds but we lose the
>> > formatting and really need it to stay DDE. When it says that it can't
>> > locate
>> > the .xls file I can browse to it and reconnect if via DDE just fine,
>> > but
>> > after saving the document and bringing it back up the link is broken
>> > again
>> > and it can't find it. No windows or office updates have been applied
>> > recently and I have tried to even create a new excel file and link it
>> > to
>> > an
>> > existing Word doc and use DDE and it doesn't hold either. Any ideas
>> > what
>> > changed or is wrong?
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Jason
>>
>>