# Solved: word cannot open excel data source



## nancy4 (Dec 13, 2009)

I am making mail merge address labels. I have used the excel spreadsheet for this purpose before, but I get a message that "word cannot open the data source". The excel file otherwise works normally, as does word itself.


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## James4630 (Mar 2, 2009)

You might get more response in the business application forum.


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## redoak (Jun 24, 2004)

Click "Report" and request your Thread be transferred as mentioned below.

{redoak}


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## slurpee55 (Oct 20, 2004)

What version of Office are you using?


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## nancy4 (Dec 13, 2009)

2003 and thanks!


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## slurpee55 (Oct 20, 2004)

According to MS, the reasons for this are:
* Your data source is not located on your computer--for example, the data source is located on a network drive.
* Your data source is a text-based file, such as *.txt. (Obviously, this isn't the case for you, since yours is an Excel file.)
* Your local intranet security settings in Microsoft Internet Explorer do not trust the location that contains your mail merge data source.
One thing they do not really mention - and it is related to the same problem that you can have on a network - is that the location plus the file name is too long.
Try moving your Excel file (or making a copy) on your Desktop and also have your Word document there and try again. Also, if the Excel file has a really long name, you might want to rename the copy to something simpler, like mergefile.xls


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## nancy4 (Dec 13, 2009)

My file name was only one word, address, but copying the sheet I was using into another excel file worked! Thank you very much.


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## slurpee55 (Oct 20, 2004)

Truly strange are the workings of Office sometimes....


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