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.

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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
    2016-02-23T13:08:50+00:00

    Hello, similarly to JeneeB53 I have been using a Word mail merge file with an excel database (in Office 2013) for some time and today it's suddenly decided to stop working. We've had similar problems before and I had to re-do all of the mail merge document, am keen to not do that again if possible. I wonder if an update has triggered this error. 

    The Access open/shut fix that others have found helpful hasn't worked. I also tried the above work around (confirm data source format) and that hasn't worked - Word just crashes.

    Also as far as I'm aware I only have Office 2013 installed.

    Have just tried to save Excel database as .xls and that does work, however un-ideal as that looses functionality that we use.

    Any ideas? Anyone!

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