Word 2010 Mail Merge not working

nelsonw

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I just upgraded to Microsoft Office 2010 and when I try to use mail merge for Christmas card labels, I get clear down to the final formating and get an error message that says "not enough memory." This is very discouraging because of all the time and effort to download the addresses from Outlook. What gives with Word 2010? It seems to crash a lot, produce many "not responding" messages, and many of the windows within Word are funky and hard to read.
 

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Welcome
Lets not overlook the obvious, it may indeed be memory.
Bring up task scheduler to determine how much memory you actually do have.
Press alt+cntrl+delete and then click on performance tab to check remaining memory.
Crashes can, also, be caused by memory.
 

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Hi nelsonw,

Assuming it isn't an actual memory problem (or even if it is), there may be solutions involving the memory usage of this process as opposed to overall memory problems (like too many concurrently running applications or something like that). If the following doesn't help, then we can look into your memory in general in more detail with better and more informative tools (all free) than just task manager.

Here's an article with two suggestions to deal with Word crashing on you (in this case with an apparent memory problem). I tend to like the second option better than the first, but you can of course try both: OfficeForLawyers (but read the article to understand the consequences of using the first option in case you have made substantial changes to the normal template).

If that doesn't work (or if it does and you don't want to go to Safe Mode every time), try a clean boot http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135. This is very similar and if it works in Safe Mode, then there's a good chance that the clean boot process will identify the culprit. If the problem goes away then it's just a matter of tracking down the culprit causing the problem. Follow the procedures in the article. Once found, delete, remove, deactivate, or uninstall it. Once done be sure to reset Vista back to normal status as explained in the procedures. If the problem occurs in clean mode then just restore the system to normal status and reboot - this solution is not going to work.

If that doesn't work, then try the following (which is essentially the first article, but goes into more detail about isolating and resolving the problem though Safe Mode rather than with a Clean Boot):

Hold CTRL key and click on word icon and choose to start in safe mode.

If it works in safe mode then disable the addins causing the issue:-

1. Click on File menu, click Options > Add-ins > Go button besides Manage: Com-in Add.

2. Check if there are add-ins listed, clear the checkbox to disable them.

3. Close the Office program and restart it.

4. Disable each add-in one at a time, restart word, and repeat the above procedure. If the issue reappears again, it will help you to determine which add-in is causing this issue.

I hope one of these options helps.

Good luck!
 
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Thank you very much to those who replied to my dilemma. I don't know if I have a memory problem or not. When I check, the performance says there is 1.5 of the 4 megs of memory available. Yet, all I have to do is click on the labels icon in the software and I get an error message that says there is not enough memory to complete the operation. When I do a clean boot, nothing seems to work on my computer. My Wacom tablet goes funky and Word is also unstable and non responsive. I'll tell you all, Office 2010 is totally unimpressive to me. I never had these problems with Word 07. Also, my Outlook 2010 crashes regularly. It never crashed before I "upgraded."
 

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Have you tried the Safe Mode option? You didn't mention anything about that. If not, please give it a shot and see if it works (no guarantees - but it's a distinct possibility).

Good luck!

FWIW, I agree with you. I tried the 2010 trial (except Outlook where I didn't want to chance having a problem and so didn't even install the 2010 version) and was not impressed and stayed with 2007.
 

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Thanks for your advice. I've since had even more problems with OUtlook and Word crashing, unresponding, almost every time I try to do something. I don't have any problems at all with my other software, PhotoShop, Quark Express, various Serif programs, etc.
I've decided I need to uninstall Office 2010 and reinstall it. Doing that, will I lose all my Outlook addresses? Any advice on how to safely do this?
Your advice is much appreciated.
 

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I tried it in safe mode and it does work, but the windows that come up are practically invisible, with only the top bar showing. You have to click around in the blank space and then only a portion of the window shows up. It's bizarre! This convinces me I have to back up as you suggest and reinstall.
Thanks again.
 

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Hi nelsonw,

Here is where Outlook 2010 saves your data and configuration files: Where does Microsoft Outlook 2010 save my information and configurations? - Outlook - Microsoft Office. Although your data files (the .pst files) are typically safe if you uninstall/re-install, the same doesn't hold true for all the configuration files. You can do so yourself and then replace them when done to make sure everything goes as easily as possible. This shows not only what to save but where it is located. This also assumes you didn't move the locations yourself - in which case, they are wherever you moved them to - you coulld do a complete search for the file names if necessary to locate them and create backups.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!
 
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Thank you Lorien for your expert and sage advice. I uninstalled and reinstalled Microsoft Office 2010 Suite and everything seems to be working better, with fewer "not responding" messages, although I still cannot get mail merge to work in Word. Finally, in desperation, I created an Excell data file from my Outlook Address Book and did my mail merge in Avery Design Pro without a hitch. To heck with Microsoft. I think the complexity and clunkiness of the new Office Suite is ridiculous. I yearn for the simplier, less complex computer days. And I'm an old hand at computers, having cut my teeth on the then-innovative Apple Lisa, which predated the classic Mac.
 

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Hi nelsonw,

Is the problem with mail merge using Outlook still a memory problem? I'm glad that you were able to find a workaround and that we were able to help with the process of uninstalling and reinstalling. I am sorry to hear, however, that it still does not work as it should (as what you did pretty much rules out a problem with the Office 2010 installation and that you were able to do it the way you did suggests the problem is somehow with Outlook and not Word). Just out of curiosity, what is the size of outlook.pst?

I'm not quite sure what else to try at this stage. Perhaps if you tried a very, very small mail merge (only 2 accounts and a simple, short one page document) we might be able to see if this size of the mail merge has anything to do with it. Another option is to create a second Outlook Address Book with only a few entries (make sure it isn't the default and delete it when done) and see if the reduction in size allows the merge to work. These won't fix the problem, but they may help identify what program or data may be causing the issue and if we can figure that out, we're half way home to a solution. Right now we're not even completely certain if it is hardware or software (I tend to think software since it worked with Excel) - and the more we can rule out the closer we'll get to the underlying cause. I'm trying here to see if the sizes of the files involved makes any difference.

Another option if you want to consider it (and can consider it) is to uninstall Office 2010 and reinstall Office 2007 if you were happier with that suite. Of course, it's hard to do that and see all the money spent on 2010 essentially wasted - but in the end, having a computer that functions as you need it to function is really what's most important. Then again, you may have upgraded to include more programs (though I believe you may be able to install just those additional programs if you do this) or you may like other features of the various programs in 2010 (except for this one giving you trouble). That of course is entirely up to you. It's unfortunate you didn't test a mail merge during the period you had 2010 as a trial - then maybe you would have decided differently then (but who would think of testing that or expect this problem).

If you learn anything new from the above or have any ideas you care to toss our way, please post at your convenience. Do you want me to pursue trying to solve the mail merge issue or would you prefer to just drop it - perhaps because it isn't used much or because you'd rather not spend any more time on this issue or whatever? I have a few sources I can contact to see if I can get some assistance - but will only do so if you're willing to pursue whatever recommendations might result from such an effort. The decision is entirely yours.

Good luck and best wishes!

P.S. I've never had any type of Mac; however, I do remember the days when WordPerfect 5.1 was the king of the hill (and there were no real e-mail programs like Outlook). Still, to be honest, I'm quite happy with Office Enterprise 2007 and have had no problems with any of its many different programs. And while I had no problems during the 2010 trial, I couldn't justify paying that kind of money given what I saw as minimal improvements to any and all of the programs - where I saw improvements at all.
 

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Thank you Lorien for your thorough analysis of what I need to do to solve my dilemma. Word now seems to be working without "not responding" errors, and I can use it for its main purpose, which is word processing. As I explore the new features, I see that Microsoft has incorporated a lot of picture-enhancing tools, somewhat like including PhotoShop into the software. As a photographer, I would never use these tools because I have been photo editing in PhotoShop since Adobe's very first version. Also, I do most of my page designing and layout in Quark Xpress. I just want a good word processor to take care of my business functions, i.e. letters, writing stories I can import into Quark, and mailings. Mail merge is important to me, but if I have to export a data file to another software to do it, so be it.
At this point, I guess I'll just bite the bullet and do my mail merging elsewhere. Yes, it may be an Outlook problem. Maybe I made a mistake when I created another Contacts folder for my Christmas list, copying from my address book the names I wanted to send cards. I did that before in Outlook 2007 with no problem. Word will not recognize this folder, giving an error message that it cannot find the object. So, I had to use the regular contacts folder, uncheck all names and then recheck the ones I wanted to send cards to. But I could never complete the merge.
As for memory, when I check the Resource Monitor, it says I have 4096 MB installed, with 9MB in Hardware Reserved, 1300 MB In Use, 53MB in Modified, 2724 MB in Standby and 3-6 MB in Free.
I have no idea what all that means. In Physical Memory, it says 1300 MB In Use and 2700 MB Available. I don't know that that means either. Since uninstalling and reinstalling, I haven't had any memory error messages.
Thanks again for all your help.
 

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It was my pleasure - I'm glad I was able to be of some help.

Thanks for the feedback - it is appreciated.

Good luck and best wishes.
 

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Lorien,
Just thought I should let you know that I have been able to use mail merge in Microsoft Word 2010 by exporting my addresses from Outlook into an Excell file and then merging that file into Word. My newly installed Office Suite seems to have fixed itself somehow and I no longer get the lack of memory error messages. Also, no more "not responding" crashes. Thanks again for all your help. Your suggested procedures I am sure are responsible for the fix.
Best,
nelsonw
 

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Hi nelsonw.

I am very happy to hear that. Perhaps Office 2010 won't prove to be such a burden after all - and that's good news (as I know how much these suites cost).

Again, it was my pleasure. Although I am also here to learn, my primary purpose in being here is to help others and when I can do so and see the appreciation through your comments and the rep, it makes me feel very good.

Thanks very much for the additional feedback. I'm happy to hear that thing have sorted themselves out for you.

Good luck and best wishes. You know where to find us if you have any more questions or problems.
 

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In the mail merge wizard you need to choose the directory option instead of the letter option. This will allow your merge to happen all on the same page.


Best Regard
Vishal Chadha
Email.biz
 

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