MS Word Form Letters - Mail Merge Data Source

[Reimondo]

Hi,

I'm currently setting up some form letters as mail merge documents which will link up with the Access database.
I would like to know is there any way to change the data source address of a mail merge document to be a 'relative' address and not an absolute address?
Or does Microsoft Word only allow absolute addresses?


Regards,

Raymond

 

[Reimondo]

Just to elaborate on my last post.

With 'absolute' address i mean like if I set the data source of a word form letter to be the DB.mdb file located in "C:\DB\DB.mdb", then the word document's data source is always hardwired to that specific address in C driver ("C:\DB\&quot.
As I have the form letters located in the "C:\DB\" folder aswell, I want to refer to the DB.mdb file as a relative address (ie. "..\DB.mdb&quot, and not an absolute address.

The reason why I want to use relative addressing, is that I will be sharing the database folder and its form letters over the network. So when other users access the form letters, I don't want the data source of the form letters to be pointing to the 'hardwired' address of "C:\DB\DB.mdb". As this address will be pointing to the client's C drive, which will not contain the DB.mdb file. I want it to be pointing to the address of the shared folder.

So back to my question, I would like to know is it possible to change the settings of Microsoft Word such that it refers to a data source file in terms of 'relative addressing'?
I've created all the mail merge documents via the Microsoft Word interface, as I'm not familar with VB. So any non-VB suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

[Reimondo]

Just to sum it up, the main problem at the moment, is that when a client computer opens up a mail merged form letter, the data source is empty. (as there is no data source located on the client's C drive). I want MS Word to be able to detect the data source from the 'shared folder' on the network.

 

[straybullet]

If you specify the FULL path to the drive, does it still function properly on the host machine? Meaning, if the shared folder is on Machine1 and the enduser at Machine2 would like to access the mail merge as described - the path would be \\Machine1\C:\DB\DB.mdb. However, my question is - would a user on Machine1 experience any problems accessing the data source?
I am not so sure that a relative address would work, as the application on Machine2 would still be attempting to locate C:\DB\ locally...

 

[Reimondo]

Hi,

thanks for the reply.
I'm thinking about using a mapped network drive as the data source. ie. create a folder, map it to the drive letter 'Z' and then set the path of the database to be at Z:\DB\db.mdb

However, I'm not sure if the server itself can access the database via the network drive 'Z', as the server would only see it as a local folder (ie. 'C:\DB).

I've still yet to test this out, as I don't have access to a networked computer yet.

Any feedback would be appreciated.