Access 2013 crashes after mail merge in Word 2013

Question

We have several Word templates that query an Access database to populate themselves. After the mail merge is complete, when we close Word then Access immediately crashes every time. This started after upgrading from Office 2003 to 2013. We tried updating
the Word Doc to 2013 but then it would not connect to the data source at all. Last, we also tried to Compact and Repair the database with no luck.
We searched for an Access Hot Fix but could not find anything that matches our issue. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Use a table or query as the data source
Open the source database, and in the Navigation Pane, select the table or query that you want use as the mail merge data source.
On the External Data tab, in the Export group, click
More , and then click Merge it with Microsoft Office Word .
The Microsoft Word Mail Merge Wizard starts.
Select whether you want to create the link in an existing document or in a new document, and then click
OK.
If you chose to link to an existing document, in the Select Microsoft Word Document dialog box, locate and select the file, and then click
Open.
Word starts. Depending on your choice, Word opens either the document you specified or a new document.
In the Mail Merge pane, under Select document type, click
Letters and then click Next: Starting document to continue to step 2.
In step 2, click Next: Select recipients.
In step 3, you create the link between the data source in Access and the Word document. Because you started the wizard from Access, this link is created automatically. Under
Select recipients, note that Use an existing list is selected, and the name of your data source is displayed under
Use an existing list.
Click Edit recipient list if you want to customize the contents of the table or query.
You can filter, sort, and validate the data. Click OK to continue.
Click Next: Write your letter to continue. Follow the remaining instructions in the
Mail Merge pane, and in step 5, click Next: Complete the merge.
Other ways to use a table or query as the data source
You can specify a table or query as a data source in additional ways. For example, you can export the table or query from Access to an ODBC database, a Microsoft Office Excel 2013 file, a text file, or any other file format that is compatible with Word,
and then link to the resulting file by using the Word Mail Merge Wizard.
If you have not already exported the table or query , do so. In Access, in the Navigation Pane, select the table or query that you want to use, and on the
External Data tab, in the Export group, click the format you want to export to, and then follow the instructions.
In Word, if the Mail Merge pane is not displayed, on the
Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, click the arrow under
Start Mail Merge, and then click Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard. The
Mail Merge pane appears.
In step 3 of the Mail Merge pane, under Use an existing list, click
Browse or Edit recipient list.
In the Select Data Source dialog box, specify the data file that you created in Access, and then click
Open.
Follow the instructions in any dialog boxes that follow. In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, review and customize the contents of the file. You can filter, sort, and validate the contents before you continue.
Click OK, and then click Next: Write your letter in the
Mail Merge pane. For more instructions on customizing your mail merge, see Word Help.