'Bad name or file number' error when prepping fields and tables

Problem

At the end of the Prep Fields and Tables process in an Excel file, the following errors appear, and most of the fields appear blank when merged into a Word document.

“Error encountered writing map info for merge process: Bad file name or number”

“Error in ListDocVars procedure. Please report this to Exactbid Support”

Typical Cause

A pipe character ( | ) is present in one or more of the worksheet names in the Excel file, or possibly other invalid characters.

Solution

To fix the ‘bad name or file' number’ error, delete any pipe characters from any worksheet names in which they appear. If the problem persists, other special characters may possibly be to blame, though these usually result in other errors. Note: Quotation marks are another type of character that can cause issues.