Cannot Link Microsoft Access 1.x Data into Word 6.0 Document

• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0, 6.0a
• Microsoft Access for Windows, version 1.0, 1.1

SYMPTOMS

When you copy data from Microsoft Access 1.x for Windows, you cannot link it to your Word for Windows document. The Paste Link button is unavailable in the Paste Special dialog box in Word.

CAUSE

You cannot link information from Microsoft Access 1.x for the following reasons:

• Word 6.0 does not support the CF_OldLink Clipboard format. This format (which is supported in Word 2.x), facilitates the creation of DDE (dynamic data exchange) links between Word and pre-OLE 1 or OLE 1 applications. Microsoft Access 1.x (an OLE 1 application) places data on the Clipboard in CF_OldLink format, but Word does not support this format, so it cannot use it to create a DDE link. Because Word does not support the CF_OldLink format, the Paste Link button is available only when the data on the clipboard is copied from an OLE 1 or 2 application such as Microsoft Excel 5.0.

  -and-

• Microsoft Access 1.x, even though it supports OLE 1 (which Word 6.0 also supports), is not an OLE server application, so it does not provide data in the OLE 1 format that Word could use to create a link.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Word for Windows. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, insert your Microsoft Access 1.x data using the Database command on the Insert menu (inserts a DATABASE field). For more information on inserting databases using the ODBC drivers, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   odbc and database and and access

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word User's Guide," version 6.0, pages 609-615, 624-632, 691