Microsoft KB Archive/167894

= PUB97: Publisher Closes Publication if It Can't Read Data Source =

Article ID: 167894

Article Last Modified on 10/8/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Publisher 97 Standard Edition, when used with:
 * Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

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This article was previously published under Q167894



SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to open a publication that is connected to a data source for a mail merge, you receive the following error message:

Publisher cannot open the data source you selected.

The file may be damaged, or it may be in a format that Publisher does not support.

PUBMERGE: Object "MergeQuery" already exists.

When you click OK, Publisher closes your publication.

This problem may occur even if you can successfully connect to the same data source from another Publication.



WORKAROUND
To work around this problem and open the publication, use the following steps:
 * 1) In Windows Explorer, rename the file that contains the data source for the Publisher mail merge. For example, if you are using a data source called Addresses.mdb, change the name of the file to Addresses2.mdb.

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Move the file to another folder.
 * 1) Start Publisher and reopen the publication. When you see a message indicating that Publisher cannot connect to the data source file because the file may have been moved, deleted, or renamed, click Try to Reconnect.
 * 2) Select the file you renamed or moved in step 1, and then click Open.
 * 3) If you still receive the error message, repeat step 2, but click Work Without Merged Information instead of Try to Reconnect.
 * 4) Repeat step 3.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Publisher 98.

Additional query words: 97 pub97 pub4 4.00 4.0 mail merge mailmerge pubmerge pubmerge.dll can't open .mdb .dbf database data base addresslist field datasource

Keywords: kberrmsg kbinterop kbmerge kbprb kbusage KB167894

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