We have a multi-file database on a FM server (OS X) that we access using an IP address (or AppleTalk). We also use MS Office X on Jaguar. We want to be albe to use the database for mail merges in MS Word, even though Word has built-in FileMaker connectivity, it cannot access a remote host. Is there some way around this? I have been told that we cannot share the folder on the server with our database files in it and mount that locally to gain access to the data. We can, of course, export found sets and do that, but this extra step lowers productivity and acts as a barrier to serveral users.

Talk to MS, they are the ones who wrote that little limitation into Word.

However, I think that you can setup an ODBC connection to a Filemaker database. You'll need to run a copy of Filemaker Unlimited if you need more than 12 users to access the DB. Your ODBC connection will access the FMU machine using its Remote Data Access plugin.