Word is unable to open data source

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Word is unable to open data source

Anders, Elizabeth 20

I have a Word document set to create merge documents. My source data is in an Excel workbook .xlsx. I can easily open the spreadsheet and see that no-one is in it. After I close the spreadsheet, I tried to link it to my merge document and it is unable to open the data source. Why?!?!?

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Answer 1

Hendrix-C 6,390 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Anders, Elizabeth,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on your information, there is a high possibility that Excel is still running in the background or locked by another process, preventing Word from merging.

We kindly suggest you should double-check these things

Make sure you disable the Preview Pane of File explorer via File Explorer > go to View tab > uncheck Preview Pane or completely close File explorer. This will prevent the Preview Pane from keeping a lock on the file while it is displayed

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Check if the file is syncing via OneDrive or another cloud service. If so, wait for the sync to complete or pause it temporarily.
Ensure Excel is completely closed via Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc on Windows) > Details tab > look for any EXCEL.EXE processes > select them and click End task.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. 

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. I'm looking forward to your reply.

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Hendrix-C 6,390 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-03T23:16:27.06+00:00

Good day @Anders, Elizabeth,

Hope things are running smoothly on your end.

Following up on the support thread we've been working on. Did you have time checking the previous response? If you are still facing the same issue or need assistance with anything else, kindly respond to this email, and I will be happy to help.

We want to make sure everything is working as expected and that your experience remains uninterrupted.

Thank you for your patience and understanding throughout the troubleshooting process.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Hendrix-C 6,390 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-05T23:18:53.36+00:00

Hi @Anders, Elizabeth,

I hope you are having a great day.

I'm reaching out again to follow up on your issue and check if everything has been resolved. My goal is to ensure your experience remains smooth and hassle-free. If you're still encountering any problems or have run into new challenges, please let me know which steps you're currently stuck on and happy to provide further help whenever you need it.

If you have any further questions, feel free to tag me in your reply so I can assist you directly.

Looking forward to your update.

Answer 2

It should not make any difference whether the Excel file is open on closed. However, go to the Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) and scroll down through the Background Processes, (which are all in alphabetical order) and if there is an instance of Microsoft Excel, right click on it and then click on End Task.

Then start Excel, open the Excel File and with it open, attach it to the mail merge main document.

The reason that I suggest opening the Excel file is that, if your file has links to external sources, the message about updating those links can interfere with the mail merge process.

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Word is unable to open data source

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