Error 5981 when Merging REST to a Word Document

Overview

Error 5981 may be encountered when merging from REST to a word document. This can happen in Word 2007 and 2010 and is normally that Word is opening the merge file in Protected View which prevents the merge completing and generates the above error.

Solution

You will need to access the particular document that generated this error on and change the protected view.

To do this, browse to your Word folder within your REST folder. If you are unsure of the location, you can check this by going to Help > About Rest > Rest Info and click on File Locations. On the right hand side, you will see the path for your word merge documents.

Browse to this location by going to your START menu at the bottom of your screen go to Computer/My Computer and browse to the selected drive and browse to the REST folder.

In the word folder double click on the merge document. If you have yellow bar below the File menu with 'Protected View This file originated from an Internet location and might me unsafe. Click for more details.' Then this indicates that protected view is enabled. This needs to be disabled to allow the merging to work correctly. Below are the steps to disable protected view in the relevant version of Word.

Steps for Word 2010

1. Open Word
2. File > Options
3. Select Trust Centre
4. Select Trust Centre Settings
5. Choose Protected View from the left hand panel
6. Untick the 3 options

• Enable protected view for files originating from the internet
• Enable protected view for files located in potentially unsafe locations
• Enable Protected view for outlook attachments”

7. Click Ok

Steps for Word 2007

1. Open Word
2. Click on the Office Logo on top/left corner of screen and click 'Word Options' button.
3. Select Trust Centre
4. Select Trust Centre Settings
5. Choose Protected View from the left hand panel
6. Untick the 3 options

• Enable protected view for files originating from the internet
• Enable protected view for files located in potentially unsafe locations
• Enable Protected view for outlook attachments

7. Tick the Allow Macro button and the VBA Object tick box
8. Click Ok

NOTE: This is a word generated error message. If you are experiencing difficulties that could not be overcome with the information set out in this document, it may be advisable to speak with your IT or technical support.