Microsoft KB Archive/68478

WinWord Err Msg: “DDE Timed Out. Continue Waiting?” PSS ID Number: Q68478 Article last modified on 07-14-1994

1.00 1.10 1.10a 2.00 2.00a 2.00a-CD 2.00b 2.00c

WINDOWS

Summary:

If you use the Paste Link command to paste data into Microsoft Word for Windows from another application, you may receive the following error message:

DDE timed out. Continue waiting?

The Paste Link process uses Windows’ Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) interprocess communications functionality to provide the link. This error message indicates that the application from which the data has been copied is taking too long to provide the data for the link.

This error commonly occurs if the data has been copied from an Excel worksheet that is dependent on several other worksheets. It takes time for Excel to retrieve the required information from the supporting worksheets.

To prevent this error, Word for Windows provides a WIN.INI setting to modify its DDE timeout period. You can place this setting in the [Microsoft Word] section of the WIN.INI file as follows:

[Microsoft Word] DDETIMEOUT=n

where “n” is the number of seconds Word for Windows will wait for DDE data from the source application. (If “n” is not specified, the default value for “n” is 30 seconds in versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.1a. The default value for “n” is 60 seconds in versions 2.0 and 2.0a.)

Reference(s):

“Microsoft Word for Windows User’s Reference,” version 1.x, pages 397, 411, 201-203

Additional reference words: w4wother winword 1.00 1.10 1.10a 2.00 2.00a 2.00a-CD 2.00b 2.00c

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1994.