Document #511, Using and Troubleshooting GoldMine 4.0’s link to Word
Covers GoldMine 4.x
Step 1: Preliminary check list
Word Support
GoldMine 4.0 links with Word 95® (v7.0), Word 97® (v8.0) and Word 2000®. The link will not work completely, if at all, with Word for Windows 6.0x. For additional steps necessary to install the link for use with Word 2000, refer to the last page of this document. To find out which version of Word you are running, start Word and go to Help>>About Microsoft Word. The version number will be displayed at the top of the window that appears.
Faxing Support
GoldMine 4.0 supports faxing with WinFax 7.0x, 7.5, 8.0x, 9.0, RightFax and FaxRush. This is achieved through the merge capability of Microsoft Word. If you intend to use WinFax 7.0x, make sure you have an executable file date later than 11/24/95 or a version of 7.01 or greater. Check the date of the file Faxmng32.exe, by going to Start>>Find>>Files or Folders and type Faxmng32.exe and select Find Now. When you find the program file, scroll right to reveal the modify date. Check the version of WinFax by selecting Help>>About from WinFax to confirm that you have version 7.01 or greater. If necessary, contact WinFax Technical Support to obtain the proper patches from version 7.00 to 7.0x.
GoldMine DDE Link File
Make sure that you have the GoldMine DDE link file Gm4w6.doc for use with Word 95 or Gm4w8.doc for use with Word 97 and Word 2000. These files are located in your main GoldMine directory (C:\Program Files\Goldmine\ in a default installation), and will be required later. If this file is not available to you, you can download the latest version of the link file from the Drivers and Downloads section of support.frontrange.com
Step 2. Installing GoldMine's link to Word
GoldMine's link to Word 95/97/2000 can be installed by following these steps:
The link installation may take several minutes to complete. Please remain patient and do not interrupt the process. You will know that the installation has finished when the there is no further activity from the computer for at least one minute. If the install concludes without error, proceed to Step 3.
If any errors occur during the installation, uninstall the word link, follow the above steps for installing the link but Click the Uninstall GoldMine Link button instead of the Install GoldMine Link button. The process will remove the link to Word. Go back to Step 1 and try the install process again, making sure that you have completed all of the above steps as directed. Please contact FrontRange Solutions Technical Support if the problem persists.
Step 3: Updating existing documents to work with the new link.
Merge forms that were created for use with older versions of GoldMine must be converted before they will work with the new link. The following steps will guide you through this conversion.
Step 4a: Creating Custom Form Letters: Adding GoldMine Fields to a Template
To create a new template, open a new document in Word and start entering the text that will remain the same from one printing of the form letter to the next. Whenever you come to a place in the letter where a GoldMine field needs to be inserted, select Insert>>GoldMine Field and select the appropriate field name. The GoldMine field names that begin
with an ampersand character (e.g. &CONTACT) are actually DDE macros whereas the GoldMine field names that begin with a GoldMine database name (e.g. CONTACT1->CONTACT) are DDE links to a specific field. All fields that have a database name followed by a field name will always pull GoldMine information from the named field; for example,
CONTACT1->CONTACT will always pull the contents of the GoldMine Contact field across the DDE link. All the fields that have an ampersand followed by a field name will pull a primary contact’s information if the mail merge is performed for Primary contacts but will pull an additional contact’s information if the mail merge is performed for Additional contacts. For more information on this feature, see Step 5, below.
If you have added any User Defined fields to your GoldMine database, you may notice that they do not appear in the list of GoldMine fields in the Insert GoldMine DDE Field dialog box. In order to insert a DDE link to a user-defined field, simply type the name of the field in the text-box at the top of the Insert GoldMine DDE Field dialog box. For example, suppose you’ve added the field UMYFIELD to your database. To insert a link to this field into your template, type CONTACT2->UMYFIELD in the text-box at the top of the Insert GoldMine DDE Field dialog box and select OK.
One powerful macro that you should try out is the &NAMEADDRESS. This macro appears near the bottom of the list of fields in the Insert GoldMine DDE Field dialog box. This macro is especially useful as an address header for a form letter. It pulls the primary contact’s name and title, both address lines, and the city, state, and zip, as well as providing automatic blank-line suppression if some of this information is not available. This macro is also useful for automatically creating an envelope or a mailing label when performing a merge for a single contact.
If you will be inserting DDE links to any GoldMine date fields, you will want to apply formatting to the date field before entering it into your template. For example, say you want to link the CONTACT1->LASTCONTON date-field into your template. If the last contact date was April 1st, 1996, then when you insert this field into your template it will appear as
19960401. Therefore, when you are inserting this field, first highlight it in the Insert GoldMine DDE Field dialog box. Next, in the text-box at the top of this window, modify the entry to read dtoc(CONTACT1->LASTCONTON) rather than CONTACT1->LASTCONTON. After you select OK, the date will appear in the format 10/30/95. Do the same for all GoldMine date-formatted fields. For more advanced formatting options, see the following paragraph and/or consult Microsoft Word’s documentation.
In order to enter advanced formatting options, you must first view your DDE field codes. If you have not installed Help for WordPerfect Users in Word, the Word keyboard shortcut for revealing all the DDE field codes in your template is Alt- F9. If you installed Help for WordPerfect Users then you can right-click on any DDE field and select Toggle Field Codes to view the DDE codes of all your DDE fields. Once viewed, you can enter DDE formatting codes to perform blank line suppression or format GoldMine dates and times any way you desire. For more information on blank-line suppression, download the file BLANKL.DOC from the Files Library on our Internet site at:
http://www.goldmine.com/download/index.cfm?fa=supp_general; this file contains numerous examples of blank line suppression. For more information on DDE codes to format date and time fields to your specifications, see the Word User’s Guide and/or go to Insert|Field in Word, select Date and Time and select the Options button. A list of Word’s date and time format codes will appear. Please note that FrontRange Solutions Technical Support does not provide support for Microsoft Word’s advanced DDE formatting options. You must address any questions or problems concerning DDE formatting to Word’s Technical Support staff.
Step 4b: Creating Custom Form Letters: Saving the Template for Later Use.
Once you commence creating your template, you will want to save it to your hard-disk. Save the file with the extension .DOT. Although the template will still work even if you save it as a .DOC file, we strongly recommend that all templates be saved with the extension .DOT so that they can be easily distinguished from the merged documents that will be created from them. Next, you must make GoldMine aware of the existence of this template. To do so, go to File>>Save As GoldMine Template in Word. When the Summary Information dialog box appears, you must type a descriptive name for your template form in the Title text box. This entry will be the name of your new template form in GoldMine’s Merge Forms dialog box. You only need to select Save As GoldMine Template once, when you first create the form; afterwards, whenever you edit the form in Word you need to select File>>Update GoldMine Template in Word to save your changes to the template.
Step 5: Performing a Mail Merge
You can perform a mail merge for a single contact, for a group or filter of contacts, or for your entire database. If you will be mail merging a single contact into a template, open GoldMine and go to that contact’s record. If you will be mail merging several contacts that have something in common with one another with the same template form, open GoldMine and activate the group or filter that contains all the contact records for which you want to create merged documents.
Select File>>Merge Forms in GoldMine. Highlight the merge form template with which you wish to perform a mail merge. If you want to merge only the current contact with the template, set Record Selection to This Contact. If you want to merge a group or filter of contacts with the template, or if you want to merge your entire database with the template, set Record Selection to All Contacts.
If you want to merge only primary contact information with your template, make sure that the Primary box is checked. However, if you want to merge only additional contact information with your template, check the Additional box. If the Additional box is checked, then when you perform the merge all fields that you inserted into your template that are macro DDE fields (those beginning with an & character) will pull additional contact information into the merged document. If you are doing a merge for a single additional contact when that additional contact’s primary contact record has several additional contacts, you highlight the specific additional contact you want merged into the template before you perform the merge. If you select the Additional box with Record Selection set to All Contacts, a merged document will be produced for every additional contact in every contact record in your active group or filter.
If you will be performing a mail merge for a single contact, you will have the option to Merge & Edit a merged text document with the GoldMine database. This option is useful for modifying a merged document before printing or faxing it. It will copy the text of the highlighted template form into a new Word document and copy the current GoldMine contact’s information into that new document. All of the DDE-field macros you inserted into the template will be removed and replaced by the text of the corresponding GoldMine field; that is, the merged document will be a pure text document that will not contain any DDE field codes. You should use the Merge & Edit option when you will be printing only one merged document that you want to modify before printing or faxing. If you close and save a merged document that was created by this method, a link to the saved file will be created under the Links tab of the GoldMine contact record that was merged with the template.
If you will be performing a mail merge for a single contact or for multiple contacts all at once, you will have the options to Print or Fax the merged document(s) directly from GoldMine. You will not have a chance to edit the merged document before it is sent out if you choose either of these options. If you want to edit a merged document before sending it out, choose Merge & Edit as discussed above; after making your changes, select File>>Print in Word to print the merged document or go to File>>Send to Contact via Fax in Word to fax the merged document. Alternatively, if you want to modify a template before performing a group mail merge, you will have to open up the template file and make your modifications to the template itself. Please note that if you set Record Selection to All Contacts you will not be able to edit any of your merged document before faxing or printing them; that is, the Merge & Edit option will be unavailable.
Whenever a contact’s information is merged with a template, a history record is entered into that contact’s History. GoldMine will automatically store a link to that saved document under the Links tab of the current contact. The reference for both the History record and the Links record is the name of the template form itself.
Common Errors
ODBC Drivers
You must also have Word’s dBase and MS FoxPro ODBC drivers installed for the group mail merge to work correctly. To check whether or not your copy of Word has the proper ODBC drivers installed, perform the following steps in Microsoft Word 95/97/2000:
In the Browse Window that pops up, bring down the Files of Type dropdown box in the lower left-hand corner and verify that dBase files (*.dbf) and MS Foxpro files (*.dbf) appear in that list.
If the two ODBC drivers do not appear in the above test, they must be installed using the Microsoft Office/Word CD. If the CD is not available, the drivers are available from the Microsoft ftp site at:
Word 95: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/wx1220.exe
Word 97: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/wx1350.exe
Installation of the ODBC drivers should be performed by someone comfortable with extensive file manipulation, your network administrator or an Authorized GoldMine Solutions Partner. You can also reach Microsoft technical support for help with applying this patch. The FrontRange Solutions Sales Department can give you the name of an Authorized GoldMine Solutions Partner in your area for assistance with such operation. Contact the FrontRange Solutions Sales Department at (800)654-3526.
Using the CD to install the ODBC drivers for Office 95 and Office 97 (Office 2000 is very similar) perform the following steps:
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Microsoft Office / Word 95 |
Microsoft Office / Word 97 |
|
Run MS Office Setup (Setup.exe on MS Office CDROM) |
Run MS Office 97 Setup (Setup.exe on MS Office CDROM) |
|
Select Custom Install |
Select Add/Remove |
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Select Converters, Filters, and Data Access |
Select Data Access |
|
Select Change Option |
Select Change Option |
|
Select Data Access |
Select Database Drivers |
|
Select Change Option |
Select Change Option |
|
Select dBase and Microsoft FoxPro Drivers |
Select dBase and Microsoft FoxPro Drivers |
|
Select OK to complete the installation |
Select OK to complete the installation |
Microsoft Office/Word 95 Microsoft Office/Word 97
Setting up an ODBC DSN
Some versions of Microsoft Office/Word have been observed to not properly install the dBase and FoxPro ODBC drivers. If the above steps do not successfully install these ODBC drivers, follow the below steps for each affected workstation.
Note: On Windows NT and 2000 workstations, you must be a member of the local System Administrators group to perform these steps.
WordBasic Error 102
This error always occurs after trying to access a Merge Form and indicates that there are no links in the template. The user may have tried to edit a template form by clicking on the Merge & Edit button in the Merge Forms dialog box, and then saved the merged text document as a plain word template. This would not save the DDE field codes.
Make sure that the template updates correctly by opening it with Word manually and observing whether the contact in the document changes as the contact in GoldMine changes (see Step 3, above). After the document works correctly in this manner, save it as a file, save it as a GoldMine form, and try it from GoldMine.
WordBasic Error 502 and Longer Than Expected Errors
This error usually occurs during a mail merge after Word has sent a message to Windows requesting some information from GoldMine. Windows is expected to pass the message to GoldMine, GoldMine is expected to respond and Windows is expected to pass the response back to the application requesting the response (in this case, Word). If any of these communication links fail, or if GoldMine just takes too long to respond (as it might with a filter active), then this error will occur.
If a filter is active, GoldMine will take much longer to find the next matching contact record when only 5 out of 1000 records match the filter criteria than when 500 out of 1000 records match the filter. Essentially, rather than 1 of every 2 records being a match 1 out of 200 is a match, and GoldMine has to test the an average of 199 records between successful matches to determine whether the other records match the filter criteria. The time that it takes to evaluate these other records may cause Word (or whatever application is requesting the information) to "time out" and think that GoldMine has locked up, hence the error. Thus, the easiest solution is to build a group based on the filter, then use that group for the mail merge. Also, you might try setting limits on the filter to speed the match time.
If you are not employing a filter, the error could be caused by anything that could disrupt the flow of information between applications. Obtain the GoldMine 4.0 Troubleshooting Guide from ftp://ftp.goldmine.com/public/manuals/gm4-trbl.pdf for general system diagnostics.
WordBasic Error 124
This error occurs when you try to open or use a document that has not been updated, the link has not been installed correctly or the documents has become corrupted. If the document has not been updated then use the File>>Update GoldMine Template to update. If the link has been running okay but all of sudden is now causing error 124 then Reinstall the DDE link.
WordBasic Error 1535
This error occurs when a template’s DDE codes get changed and saved during a multiple merge session. To fix the problem: choose Edit>>Select All, Right-click on Merge Form code and select Toggle Field Codes. Replace Merge codes with DDE links (i.e. replace the field codes with GoldMine DDE field codes, choosing from Insert>>GoldMine
Field.) When you have changed all GoldMine fields, save the document by selecting File>>Save as GoldMine Template.
Visual Basic error 5922 Unable to Open Data Source
Word 97 will return this error when the DBASE Level in the BDE Administrator is set incorrectly. The DBASE Level must be set to 5. To fix the problem:
Open Database Connectivity Error : External Table isn’t in the Expected Format
Word 95 will return this error when the DBASE Level in the BDE Administrator is set incorrectly. The DBASE Level must be set to 5. To fix the problem, see the steps above Visual Basic error 5922.
Aside: How a Mail-Merge via DDE works.
All types of mail merges consist of three components: a template, a data source, and the final merged document(s). The GoldMine DDE Mail Merge with Microsoft Word comprises a form-letter template created and maintained in Word, contact data created and maintained in GoldMine, and the merged document(s) produced by updating DDE field links from the Word template to the GoldMine database. A form-letter template created in Word consists of static text and DDE links to GoldMine fields or GoldMine macros. An existing template can only be edited by opening the template file in Word; there is no way to edit a Word template by selecting any option or hitting any button in GoldMine. A merged document is created by copying a template into a new document and depositing the selected information from the data source into that new document. The resulting merged document may then be edited, if desired. It is a common mistake to perform a mail merge and then proceed to edit the merged document while assuming that you are editing the template for that merged document.
Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) involves pulling information from fields in one application into fields in a second application, and updating the fields in the second application whenever the corresponding fields in the first application are updated. When you create a template in Word for future merging with GoldMine contact information, you insert DDE field codes to pull information from specific fields in GoldMine into the template at appropriate locations. By default, the current value of each GoldMine field you insert is displayed in the Word template. However, to convince yourself that DDE field codes are actually being inserted into the template, you can go to Tools>>Options in Word, and put an X in the Field Codes text-box under the View tab. When you return to your template, you will see the field codes of any GoldMine fields you have inserted. Remove the X from the Field Codes box to return to a view of the GoldMine contact information.
Word 2000
It is necessary to enable macros to install the GoldMine link. By default, Word 2000 sets it's protection level to High which prevents the running of macros. Setting it to medium or low will allow macros to run. Setting this option to Medium will prompt the user before running macros while low will run macros without user intervention.
1. In Word 2000, select Tools>>Macros>>Security.
2. Select the Medium (or Low) setting.
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