Excel crashes when saving xls

[CapnPolo]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have an xls file that was created using Excel 2003 on Windows and it opens fine with Excel 2008, but when I try to save it (still in xls format) Excel 2008 crashes. It doesn't crash when I save in xlsx format.

The crash report (which I have submitted) begins with:

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2009-05-17 12:25:05 +1200
Application Name: Microsoft Excel
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Excel
Application Signature: XCEL
Application Version: 12.1.7.090302
Crashed Module Name: Microsoft Excel
Crashed Module Version: 12.1.7.090302
Crashed Module Offset: 0x006a8bd7
Blame Module Name: Microsoft Excel
Blame Module Version: 12.1.7.090302
Blame Module Offset: 0x006a8bd7
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409

And I see that this same error was reported back in November in these forums.

I have confirmed with a friend who has a completely independent install of Office 2008 on his machine, that this occurs for him as well.

When it crashes it leaves an xls file in the destination directory with a filename like E02E6000 (no extension) which is 1.5KB in size (compared to the 900KB original fine) and when I try to open it Excel says it is not a valid file format (no surprise).

This is quite frustrating as I paid to upgrade to Office 2008 so I would no longer have to run Office 2003 in a VM on my machine, but so far it looks like Excel 2008 won't work for me at all

 

[CyberTaz]

I get the impression that you may be making a sweeping generalization based
on an issue involving one specific file. There's no mention in your post
that other .xls files are involved, it isn't clear but it suggests that your
friend has the same result with the same file but not with others, & I'm
seeing no such issues here... Nor have there been any recent reports in this
group of comparable problems. I don't know what "report" you're referring
to, but anything that goes back more than six months predates several OS X &
Office updates even if the circumstances were similar at the time.

It would seem that there is something about that particular file that is
causing Excel to crash on save. Speculating as to what that might be is
rather difficult without knowing what the file contains ‹ including "hidden"
content that may not be visible. Also, crash on save issues often involve
something other than the program being used at the time. If the program were
at fault the crashing would occur on a regular basis.

Just to be safe you might try repairing disk permissions & restarting your
Mac, which may or may not help. If you want to pursue the issue further in
order to get it resolved you'll need to provide a more detailed & objective
description of the issue. Unfortunately the error log really doesn't mean
much to the users here & I believe the invalid file you're referring to is
probably a temporary file created while the actual file is in use. The
temporary file would normally be deleted on normal close of the actual.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac