


Choosing DDE as your Communication Method This setting will be saved until you change it.

DDE only works with the first Excel worksheet in your workbook. If you have more than one worksheet you must use OLE.If you have data formatted as zip codes or currency, they'll flow seamlessly into your document. DDE will bring your data over as it's formatted in Excel or Access.Mail merges usually consist of two documents: an Excel spreadsheet or Access database, and a Word document. When you initiate a merge, Word needs a way to communicate with Excel or Access, so that it can request and receive the data from the file containing your merge data. There are two main protocols that can be used for this communication: DDE and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE).ĭDE is an older technology that trasfers the data in a text format most mail merges that we see on campus are set up to use DDE to transfer. OLE is a newer technology that uses a binary format to communicate. There are trade-offs with each technology, and unfortunately you need to understand them before you do your mail merge. This document will walk you through the steps you need to make your old mail merge procedures work in Office 2007. On top of this, Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 change some settings that effect mail merges that depend on Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). By default, Word 2007 also turns off the ability to connect to documents that are on a server.

Microsoft Word 2007 brings some changes to how Mail Merge works.
