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. Anonymous
    2012-01-18T16:08:11+00:00

    I have discovered that if I had Excel open when I am opening the Word mail merge document then I don't get the error but if Excel is closed I get the error.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-01-17T12:22:15+00:00

    I solved a similar problem when the Excel file contained a chart (the separate workbook style, not the embedded one)

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-12-17T18:10:33+00:00

    I had the exact problem.  In my case, I performed the merge on November 15 without incident, and had it fail today.  After reading the other responses to this item, I tried opening the Excel spread sheet, and while it was open, starting the merge - and it worked.  I suspect that I introduced the problem because in the past month I have opened Access 2007.

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