"Sorry we couldn't find your file. Was it moved, renamed or deleted

Hi Heather Pretty,

Thanks for posting back.

I have tested it in the same Word version, and it works well for me. In this case, I suggest you try the following steps to troubleshoot whether the issue is caused by a specific location or Excel workbook.

1. I suggest you move the downloaded Excel file to another local location and then use the Mail Merge feature in Word to select the Excel file as the data source. Check if the error message occurs.
2. I suggest you open the local Excel file, right-click the sheet tab to copy the sheet to a new workbook, repeat the same steps to copy all sheets to the new workbook, save the new workbook, and then use the newly created workbook as the data source. Check if the issue is caused by the original workbook.

If the issue still occurs in the above situations, I think there is wrong with the Word app. Since the safe mode and repair didn't work, I suggest you try the following suggestions to troubleshoot.

1.  I suggest you switch to another Windows user profile (if you don’t have another Windows user profile, please try the steps in the "Switch user" section and sign into another account, such as your personal account), run Word, and test again. This can help us to troubleshoot whether the issue is caused by the local environment in your original Windows user profile.

2. I recommend that you use the uninstall support tool to completely uninstall Office and remove its cache files, then reinstall Office from the Office Portal (www.office.com) and check again.

We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator

I've tried Word in Safe mode and that didn't work

I've tried repairing Office and that didn't work

I'm using Microsoft 365 Word Version 2408

Hi Heather Pretty,

Thanks for providing the details and sorry for my late reply.

According to your reply, I suggest you try the following suggestions to troubleshoot the issue.

1. I suggest you try to set Word into Safe Mode, use mail merge, select the local file and check again. This can help us to troubleshoot whether the issue is caused by Word startup items, such as add-ins.

Close Word first, press Win + R, in the Run box, type winword /safe, and click OK.

2. I suggest you Repair Office and choose Online Repair. After that, open the document and check again.

Go to Windows Settings> "Apps & features" (or Apps> Installed apps)> find and select the Office product, such as Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise en-us> click Modify> choose Online Repair. After that, please run Word and check again.

If the above suggestions don't help, I would like to collect more information to troubleshoot.

1. I would like to know your Word version and Product Type.

You can click File> Account and check the information as shown in the screenshot below.

We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator

I have an Excel file saved on Sharepoint which i have downloaded and saved to my PC. I have opened a Word document on the desktop and started the Mail Merge Wizard. When it asks me to choose the data file I pick the file from where it is saved on my PC and get the error message "Sorry we couldn't find your file. Was it removed, renamed or deleted?"

I have tried downloading the file and saving it with different names, csv, different versions of Excel but i get the same error message every time.

Hi Heather Pretty,

Thanks for posting in the community. We are happy to help you.

I go through your post carefully. Before providing suggestions, I would like to collect more information about the situation.

1. My understanding is that you created a new document using Mail Merge and when you tried to open this new document, the error message appeared. If not, please point it out and provide more details.
2. For "I can see the file!", where is the mail merged document stored? Is it stored in OneDrive/SharePoint?

3. I would like to know under what circumstances the error message appears. Did you try to open the document in Word for Web or the Word desktop app? Please provide more details.

We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator