Excel Error (DDE)

[pravesh.subramanian]

Hello,
THis is my first message to the group. I get an error message:

A DDE error has occured and a description of the error cannot be
displayed because it is too long. If the filename or path is too long,
try renaming the file or copying it to a different folder.

Sometimes, when I try to opena file, I also get the message " "cannot
be opened.
" although the file very much exists.

Can anyone tell me what's happening?

Thanks,
Pravesh

 

[Echo S]

Try renaming the file to text.xls and copy it to your C drive. Don't put it
on your desktop or in My Documents or on a network drive or anything, just
put it right on your C drive. Now try to open it. Do you still get the
error?

If so, then you might want to shorten the names of some of the folders in
the path to your documents or move them to a location with a shorter
path-length.

 

[pravesh.subramanian]

Hi Echo,

Thanks for the reply. I have tried doing that. I guess it has to do
with the length of the file names. Most of the files do not have any
problems when I put it on Desktop.

I am planning to Upgrade to Office 2003. Do you think this problem will
persist if I do so? What do you think is the problem?

Regards,
Pravesh

 

[Echo S]

Hi Echo,

Thanks for the reply. I have tried doing that. I guess it has to do
with the length of the file names. Most of the files do not have any
problems when I put it on Desktop.

I am planning to Upgrade to Office 2003. Do you think this problem will
persist if I do so? What do you think is the problem?

I'm pretty sure the issue with extremely long file names will persist even
after you upgrade. I'm also pretty sure the problem is just what the error
messages said -- the paths to the files are simply too long. To resolve it,
don't bury your files so deep in the folders, or at least give your folders
all shorter names.