Knowledge Base

ACC: Export to Microsoft Word for Windows Creates a File with a .txt Extension

Article ID: 109362

Article Last Modified on 1/18/2007

Microsoft Access 1.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 1.1 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 2.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q109362

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

SYMPTOMS

Exporting a Microsoft Access table to a Microsoft Word for Windows merge file creates a text file with a .txt extension instead of a Word for Windows document with a .doc extension, as you would expect.

CAUSE

Microsoft Access cannot export data to Word for Windows native file format. However, the text file that is exported by Microsoft Access can be used by Word for Windows.

NOTE: In Microsoft Word version 6.0 or later, you can merge data directly from Microsoft Access without having to export the data into another file. For more information, consult the Microsoft Word documentation.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

In Microsoft Access 7.0 and 97:

Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
Select any table, and then click Save As/Export on the File menu.
Click To an External File or Database and then click OK.
Select Microsoft Word Merge (.txt) in the Save as Type box, and then click Export. When the Text Export Wizard appears, click the Finish button. Note that the file you created has a .txt extension, not a .doc extension.

In Microsoft Access 1.x and 2.0:

Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database NWIND.MDB.
Select any table, and then click Export on the File menu.
Select Word for Windows Merge (.txt) in the Data Destination box, and then click OK.
Click OK in the Select Microsoft Access Object dialog box. Note that the file you created has a .txt extension, not a .doc extension.

REFERENCES

For more information about sharing information between Microsoft Word and Microsoft Access, search the Help Index for "external data, Microsoft Word."

You can also find more information about merging Microsoft Access data in Microsoft Word by searching the Microsoft Word 97 Help Index for "Microsoft Access, importing and exporting data," and then "Export Microsoft Access data to a Word document."

Keywords: kbinterop kbprb KB109362