I have always had trouble getting mail-merge (MM) letters created on my desktop at home to work when copied to another computer. It just happened again. The scenario goes like this:

* Write query in MS Access (2000).

* Create the form letter.

* Use the MM toolbar to select the data source.

* Insert fields

When I run the MM letters, they work perfectly. I then take the letters to a client where the path to both the query and the letters is identical to what it is on my computer. However, the version of Office is 2003, not 2000. I get error messages that it can't find the DDE something or other, and a dialog box pops up with a button to "Find data source". I click it and it lists all the tables and queries from the correct database. Pick the query. Window opens ask me to pick the fields I want to use. Trouble is, none of the fields from the query are there. I'm not even sure where they're coming from. At one point, it asked if I wanted to remove the header information, which I did, then started all over again. Same result.

I almost seems like you have to create the MM letters on the computer on which they're going to be used, else it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

From what I've seen, this is to be emailed to your target user. I've never used the mail merge process myself, so I've checked into a few links. Perhaps these links can offer some further insight:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/word-mail-merge-a-walk-through-the-process-HA001034920.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/answer-box-send-e-mail-messages-to-a-group-using-mail-merge-in-word-HA001146481.aspx