When you use the mail merge feature in Microsoft Word 2002, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• Some parts of your merged document may be missing.
• Merge fields in your main document do not merge data as expected from your data source to the merged document.
• The merged document may appear to be corrupted or damaged.

Note If you merge to a new document, save the file, and then preview the document in the Open dialog box, the merged document appears to be complete. (On the File menu, click Open and then click Preview on the Views menu. )

The problem may occur after you install a particular hotfix on a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer or on a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer. This hotfix is described in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the Word 2002 post-Service Pack 3 Hotfix Package May 5, 2004. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
After you install this hotfix, follow the steps that are listed in the "More Information" section of this article to set the AllowFieldCorruptionRepair registry key and to activate the hotfix.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To activate this hotfix, follow these steps.

Note Use this registry setting only to fix damaged or corrupted documents. After all the damaged or corrupted documents have been repaired, deactivate (turn off) the AllowFieldCorruptionRepair registry key.

1. Quit Word.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. Locate and click the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Options
5. After you select the key that is specified in step 4, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
6. Type AllowFieldCorruptionRepair, and then press ENTER.
7. Right-click AllowFieldCorruptionRepair, and then click Modify.
8. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
   
   Important After you have fixed your damaged or corrupted documents, turn the AllowFieldCorruptionRepair registry setting off. To do this, follow the steps later in this article.
9. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

Important After you have fixed your damaged or corrupted documents, turn the AllowFieldCorruptionRepair registry setting off. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Quit Word.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. Locate and click the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Options\AllowFieldCorruptionRepair
5. Right-click AllowFieldCorruptionRepair, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.