Access.2007.VBA.Bibl..

Built-in Word Export in Office 2007 ................................................................................

For many Office versions, it has been possible to export Access data to Word documents from the

Access toolbar. The name of the control and toolbar location have changed over Office versions; in

Access 2003 it was the OfficeLinks drop-down control on the Database toolbar, offering options to

Merge to Word (Mail Merge), Publish to Word (RTF), or Analyze with Excel (XLS). In Access 2007,

on the new Ribbon that replaces the old toolbars and menus, the External Data tab (shown in

Figure 6.1) has an Export group with a variety of export options, including Excel, SharePoint,

Word (RTF), Text File, and More. On the More drop-down menu, there are a number of export

selections, including Merge It with Microsoft Office Word.

You will see different selections on the More menu (or selections appearing as enabled

or disabled) according to the type of object selected in the Object Bar, and whether the

object is open or closed. With a form open, for example, you will see the Access Database, XML File,

and HTML Document selections (these selections are enabled) and a disabled selection, Merge It with

Microsoft Office Word; the Snapshot Viewer selection is only enabled when a report is selected.

FIGURE 6.1

The new External Data tab on the Access 2007 Ribbon, with the More menu dropped down.

NOTENOTE

Working with Word Documents and Templates 6

However, even an interactive report still falls far short of the functionality of a Word document, espe-

cially if you need to distribute documents containing Access data to people who don’t have Access

installed.