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
    2010-08-19T19:34:20+00:00

    I too am struggling to work a mail merge in Office 2010 using an Excel spreadsheet as the source. No issue in previous versions of Office and no issue if I save the spreadsheet in a  previous format. Shane's suggestion, while it got further in the process, did not produce a result.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-08-12T11:47:59+00:00

    You don't need an add-in for Office 2010, it is natively part of the product now. You can just use "Save As" option from the backstage and choose either PDF or XPS from the list of file types.

    For more information refer to Glenna Shaw's post in the thread link below:

    http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officeinstall/thread/3678cf90-7c37-4000-ba34-53a1a8379e56

    @Melynda,

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-07-26T20:10:43+00:00

    Has there been a "good" response for this issue?  The answer listed below does not seem to address the issue; Excel is not asking for a password.

    Also, Office 2010 does not seem to play well with any Adobe products.  It seems to be far more cumbersome to save items out into the PDF format (only way to do is multiple clicks to print to pdf or send to one note to save as pdf, as opposed to the previously simple save as function.).

    Very frustrated at the new office package!

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