Okay, what I can come up with is this:

Sub Macro1()
'
' Macro1 Macro
' Macro recorded 26.02.2006 by h
'
channelNumber = Application.DDEInitiate(app:="WinWord", _
topic:="C:\SALES.DOC")
Set rangeToPoke = Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:b1")
Application.DDEPoke channelNumber, "\StartOfDoc", rangeToPoke
Application.DDETerminate channelNumber

End Sub

However, whe I run the macro for the first time I get an info box
asking whether I want to start Winword. Click "yes".
Then I get an error message "type mismatch". Click "end".
From there on the macro runs okay.

In the short time I had I couldn't find out what the reason is for the
error messasge.

Maybe a real expert reads this post and can suggest a solution.

If I have something new I will post it.

Good luck.

Hans