Thanks Robert - I sympathize more than a bit with ya here !!

The fix - I discovered a post via google that seemed to infer that
loading the BDE (anyone remember the BDE ?) would put a registry
setting in that says something like 'dont use the MS stuff now, rather
use the Borland ODBC connectivity'.... and IT WORKS !!

Corel bought Paradox, a creation of Borland, which long ago was
connected with the dBase file format as well, which maybe even had some
connection with Ashton Tate ?? Thats probably why you've had good
results with Corel, Robert

Thanks!
Rich

robertgilland wrote:

>
> MSWord and Excel are quite different in reading external files
> Excel was written with this as part of the
> fundamental requirements of the system.
>
> MSWord it was an add on and it uses the ODBC driver for DBF files.
> Unfortunately this driver is CRAP.
>
> If I had the choice I would use Corel Office. It handles external
> files way better.
>
> I have encountered this problem quite a bit.
>
> No workarounds.
>
> If I had my way no one would MSWord it is an inferior product.
> Corel Word Perfect is much better.
>