remote data source for msWord mail merge

Hi is it possible to specify a website database as a data source for a msWord mail merge?

If this is possible, I can offer this as a simple option for my clients to able to generate emails, and postal mailings based on the online database of website members.

Is it as simple as providing the necessary ftp/path details as some sort of dataconnection? If so, where/how do I do it?

Does it matter that my database exists outside the www route on my hosting space?

Thanks

When creating the mail merge you can choose 'Microsoft SQL server' and similiar database connections, however you will need direct access to the database, so an IP, username and password. If the database is not accessible directly in this fashion then you'll need to try something else.

Hmm. This poses a dilemma. I’ve been told that it’s quite important to keep the database with customer information (not credit card info) outside the web root to protect customer information. I suppose this means that I either need to find a way of connecting to the database other than with an ip, or find a way to ensure that the database will be adequately secure if I put it in the web root.

Any thoughts?

I assume this is an Access database?

Is it really necessary to access the data frequently, or do you just need to do a mailmerge once every now and then?

I would certainly suggest you keep your database out of sight - it's the most secure way.

yes it is an access database.

I'm not sure how often the clients will want to access the info, but I'm keen to establish a good simple system for sending emails and postal promotions that they can use whenever they like. If this works as well as I'd hoped, it would be usefull for a lot of other clients in the future.

I am inclined to agree with you however that keeping the database safe is the most important thing.

I think I might investigate a system where the client can log on to an administration area and generate a email with a text document attachment of the necessary data which can be used as the datasource for the mailmerge.

If I have the email going to a fixed email address, I reckon that this should be secure enough. Anybody disagree?

Thanks for your comments. Any other thoughts always welcome.

I think the best way to handle this is to write a web page that sits on your website capable of producing a CSV file with the results you want.

MS Word is more than capable when working with CSV data for mail merges.

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Yes, that's what I've think I'll have to do. Like I said, I'll make it so that it attaches to an email that gets sent to a specific address rather than being available for download. That way, the csv file can be created outside the web root and won't be vulnerable for general download.

Thanks again.