mailmerge – field calculation error (Word 2000)

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I did a search to see if anyone else has had this problem in the past and I found that someone posted the same problem I am having back in November of 2001. It appears no one responded. That person was using Word 97. I am using Word 2000 and the same exact error is occurring. This is what is happening:

I have a fairly simple one page mail merge letter using an equally simple Word data source.

My problem is that when I merge to a new document, I get “a field calculation error occurred in record 1”. If I acknowledge this error , it repeats the message for record 2, 3 etc. and then everything prints perfectly. As it was only 12 records, it did not take long to step through this string of messages but I can’t find what is causing this.

I have attached the letter and will attach the date source separately, as I got a message saying the file was too big to post.

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There seems to be some kind of corruption in the letter. Try the following:

• Open the letter
• Select everything except the final paragraph mark (Ctrl+A, then Shift+left arrow)
• Copy to the clipboard (Ctrl+C)
• Create a blank new document (Ctrl+N)
• Paste (Ctrl+V). This will copy all text, but not the header and footer
• Switch back to the letter (Ctrl+F6)
• Double click the header, then select everything except the last character (Ctrl+A, then Shift+left arrow)
• Copy to the clipboard (Ctrl+C)
• Switch to the new document (Ctrl+F6)
• Select Edit/Header and Footer
• Paste (Ctrl+V)
• Repeat for the footer.
• Make the new document into a mail merge letter, selecting the same data document.
• You don’t need to insert merge fields – they are already there.
• Perform the merge.
  [/list]HTH

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Thanks, Hans, this solved the problem.

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Hans, the user who had this problem reports that every time she creates a letter, from my template and sets it up for a mailmerge, this field calculation problem occurs. Would you be willing to look at the template to determine if the template is causing this problem? I have attached the template in a zip file.

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OK, later today, it’s almost dinner time here. Perhaps others have time to look at it now…

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Hi Jan,

The template contains the same corruption. It even made Word crash after having it open for 20 minutes or so. I have created a new one by copying the entire contents except for the last paragraph mark, and then copying headers and footers, styles, macros and custom toolbar. I have attached this template (zipped). Please check very carefully that it works OK before replacing the corrupt original.

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In case anyone wants to test for themselves, this is the data document.

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