Because of a recent court ruling against Microsoft, we have been forced to change the way in which RedHorse CRM merges documents with Word.

RedHorse CRM 2.5 and earlier uses Custom XML markup in Word for merging data into a document. In December 2009 the US District Court of Eastern Texas court ruled that Microsoft would be prohibited from using this technology. This ruling states that customers who purchase or license Word 2007 or Word 2003 from Microsoft after January 10, 2010 for use in the United States and its territories will need to use updated software that does not include the custom XML tagging implementation used by RedHorse CRM. Versions of Office Word 2007 that are distributed by Microsoft after January 10, 2010 no longer read the custom XML markup that may be contained within .docx, .docm, or .xml files. The new versions of Office Word 2007 can still open these files, but any custom XML markup is removed when the file is saved. Custom XML markup in Word documents is visible in the Office Word user interface as pink tag names surrounding text in a document.

As a result, all newly purchased Word 2007 or Word 2010 systems will no longer support the creation or modification of RedHorse xml Word merge templates. In response, RedHorse Systems has developed a new system for merging fields into a Word document. RedHorse CRM v2.8 will use an add-in in Word to add Content Controls to documents for merging data. This technology is not impacted by the court ruling. See the following article from Microsoft on the subject. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978951

RedHorse CRM v2.8 is scheduled for release in approximately 30-45 days. All users purchasing Word 2007 or Word 2010 will need to update their RedHorse CRM installation to v2.8. All users updating to v2.8 will need to use the new Word Link to create merge documents in Word. Existing merge templates in RedHorse CRM designed for Word 2007 using Custom XML codes will need to be reconfigured using the new method. Merge templates that were designed for Word 2003 may also be reconfigured for use in Word 2007 or Word 2010. Our new help file for document merging will contain help for the new Word Link and complete instructions on converting existing merge documents.

We appologize for the inconvenience this causes to our users and appreciate your patience and understanding.