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How can I, directly from a Word 2010 document, get items from a SharePoint 2010 list? I am interested in a one step approach, not two steps involving Access or Excel for example.

If possible I'd like a "user" solution, not a method that involves developer tools like VSTO.

One objective is to do mail merge: get a list of contacts from SharePoint and generate labels or greeting cards.

[Edit] To clarify, the objective is to automate the mail merge process, not for a one time use. The idea is that once the Word document is configured, it can be given to a user, who will just have to open it and select a template every time a mail merge is needed.

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  • What do you mean connect Word 2010 to a list? You mean editing a word document directly from a SharePoint document library? Can you give an example of what you're trying to do?
    – Kit Menke
    Jan 19, 2012 at 16:57
  • I have rephrased my question, I hope it is clear now. Thisd is about SharePoint lists, not SharePoint libraries.
    – Christophe
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:03
  • Great thanks for editing! Are you limited to using Word? Seems like you want to display list items using some sort of template..
    – Kit Menke
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:07
  • This question is specifically about Word. I am fine with other options, but Word looks like the best one especially as printing is involved: stackoverflow.com/questions/8899513/…
    – Christophe
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:12
  • What do you mean "user solution"? You cannot use VSTO, what can you use?
    – Robert Kaucher
    Mar 20, 2012 at 19:20

3 Answers 3

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In a previous role I did some work to bring SharePoint 2007 list data into Word as a VB macro calling the SharePoint web service. I'd imagine a similar approach would work here. With 2010, you could possibly make it a bit more elegant with REST, but I'd imagine the fundamental principle would work.

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  • Well, things have changed in the way you reference Web services. I think the new approach relies on a VSTO package, which for me is not an option.
    – Christophe
    Mar 20, 2012 at 16:20
  • You can't make a simple web service call from VB anymore?
    – webdes03
    Mar 20, 2012 at 21:02
  • I'm not sure what you mean by "simple call". AFAIK it's never been simple, you always need to create a reference to the Web services before you start consuming them.
    – Christophe
    Mar 20, 2012 at 21:15
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Could the users connect the contact list to their Outlook then pull that in the mail merge in Word? The list will then appear in the mail merge wizard when Select from Outlook Contacts is selected.

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  • They could, but I am looking for a direct way (cf. my question). In my case the data is not necessarily in a Contacts list. Also, I've seen cases where the Outlook connection breaks the list (if the list has fields other than the default ones).
    – Christophe
    Jan 19, 2012 at 19:08
  • In the case of a mail merge, you have to point it to data somewhere so there's always going to be a step in there to tell it where to get the data.
    – Eric Alexander
    Jan 19, 2012 at 19:52
  • Yes, but once it's done, it's a single step/single button. As opposed to using Access or Excel, where you need to refresh the data in a different application.
    – Christophe
    Jan 19, 2012 at 20:08
  • I have edited my question to try and clarify the context.
    – Christophe
    Jan 19, 2012 at 20:14
  • Looks like this might be something similar to what you want? (3rd party though), sharepoint.linkconcepts.co.uk/default.aspx
    – Eric Alexander
    Jan 19, 2012 at 20:45
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we have a mail merge web part for both SharePoint 2007 & 2010, the web part is installed on a contacts list and merges column data into Word templates, we can also produce labels. The merged document can be saved to a document library or sent as an attachment to email.

Try for yourself at our demo site http://sharepoint.linkconcepts.co.uk

Regards John Whiteley

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  • Please see May I promote products or websites I am affiliated with here? for guidelines on what is acceptable. If you just post an ad for your product you will probably get down-voted by the community. – SPDoctor♦ 3 hours ago
    – SPDoctor
    Oct 2, 2012 at 21:46

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