Microsoft KB Archive/183076

= OL98: Mail Merge Errors from Outlook Contacts File =

Article ID: 183076

Article Last Modified on 1/22/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook 98 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q183076



SYMPTOMS
You attempt to do a mail merge with Microsoft Word 97 using as your data source a comma-separated values file exported from a Microsoft Outlook 98 Contacts database. When you attempt to attach the data source, you receive an initial error:

Word was unable to open the data source



CAUSE
There is not a problem with the file exported from Outlook. If it is installed, Word will use the 32-bit Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers for converting most data sources. These drivers have difficulty reading Windows 95 file names that do not display extensions.



RESOLUTION
To show MS-DOS file extensions, follow these steps,
 * 1) Right-click the Start button and on the shortcut menu click Explore.
 * 2) On the View menu, click Options and then View.
 * 3) Click to clear the "Hide MS-DOS extensions for file types that are registered" check box. Click Apply and then OK.

