Word/Excel 2010 Merge - Error has occurred: External table is not in the expected format.

Anonymous
2010-07-01T14:18:54+00:00

We are trying to do a mail merge using Word 2010.  If we use Excel files which were originally saved when we used 2007 or if we create new 2010 files we receive the error message: External table is not in the expected format.

If we go back and open the Excel file and "save as" an Excel 97-2003 file, the merge then works. 

Is there something we can do to change this.  It effects all of the computers at our college which were just upgraded to Windows 7 / Office 2010.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-12-07T15:55:18+00:00

Hello,

My name is Ross and I am a Support Engineer for Microsoft Word. I have worked on this issue with a customer and the cause was determined to be an incorrect installation order of multiple versions of Office Products. In this case it was Office 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2007. Microsoft does not support having multiple versions of Office products installed, but if you must, then we recommend installing them oldest version to newest version. Please see this KB article for more information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2121447. In this case, doing a repair of Microsoft Office 2010 after the initial incorrect installation order has resolved the issue. I hope this information helps answer the questions posted on this thread.

Thank you,

Ross

Microsoft Office Word

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Anonymous
2012-03-02T21:52:09+00:00

Hello,

I have an update to this issue. This KB details the registry key that causes the issue and how to fix it. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2459087.

Thanks,

Ross

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  1. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-07-09T23:08:07+00:00

    Best if you provide more information, rather than send you off on what might be a wild goose chase.

    Do you have multiple versions of Office installed, or a mix of applications from different versions of Office?

    What versions are you using?  In what application was the data source created?

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-09T20:12:27+00:00

    Could you explain how to make the change in layman's terms please?

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-04-28T21:15:45+00:00

    Thanks for the info. You are spot on.

    If repair did not work, the registry entries found here did.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2459087

    If users only had Office installed, repair did the trick.

    If they had an old version of something (Access ??), the registry fix

    in KB2459087 worked.

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