Opening Excel 2003 PC files in Mac Excel 2008- cannot save changes in .xls format?

[dustin91]

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

Hi everyone. I just upgraded to a Mac and am using Excel 2008. I access Excel 2003 files on a Windows server. Opening is no problem, and my prefs are to save in .xls format for compatibility. When I open a file just to view it, but make no changes, and close it, Excel asks if I want to save it. If I say yes, it says the file "cannot be saved in the selected file format. Select a current file format such as Excel Workbook (.xlsx)."

Again, my default is to save as .xls, and that's how all these files I access are formatted, so there should be no issue. These files contain no macros or anything, they are just simple spreadsheets.

Can someone help as to why I'm being asked to save in a format different from the default, and why I would be asked to save changes when no changes are made? Is simply opening a PC file on a Mac making some change to the file somehow?

Thanks!

Dustin

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

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

Hi everyone. I just upgraded to a Mac and am using Excel 2008. I access Excel
2003 files on a Windows server. Opening is no problem, and my prefs are to
save in .xls format for compatibility. When I open a file just to view it, but
make no changes, and close it, Excel asks if I want to save it. If I say yes,
it says the file "cannot be saved in the selected file format. Select a
current file format such as Excel Workbook (.xlsx)."

Again, my default is to save as .xls, and that's how all these files I access
are formatted, so there should be no issue. These files contain no macros or
anything, they are just simple spreadsheets.

Can someone help as to why I'm being asked to save in a format different from
the default, and why I would be asked to save changes when no changes are
made? Is simply opening a PC file on a Mac making some change to the file
somehow?

Thanks!

Dustin

Well, there may be "hidden" changes made when opened on the Mac. At the very
least, recalculating on the Mac (or PC) will mark the file as "dirty" and
ask you to save on close. Are there pivot tables in the file?

 

[dustin91]

Hi Bob!

No pivot tables are being used. Do you think it's possible that it's caused by the fact that number signs ("#") are being used in the file names? I've been away from Mac for many years, since OS X first came out, so I remember days when file names were woefully incompatible.

Really appreciate any help you can provide!

Regards,

Dustin

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Hi Bob!

No pivot tables are being used. Do you think it's possible that it's caused by
the fact that number signs ("#") are being used in the file names? I've been
away from Mac for many years, since OS X first came out, so I remember days
when file names were woefully incompatible.

Really appreciate any help you can provide!

Regards,

Dustin

The Mac is usually more forgiving about file names than the PC. To be sure,
try renaming one of the trouble files to a 'sterile" name.

 

[dustin91]

Bob, on the first pass, that seems to have done the trick. Unfortunately, everything we link to in this master spreadsheet is a file with one or two #'s in the file name. And there's thousands of them. I can't change them and then create new hyperlinks - I'd be retired before I finished!

Do you know of any workaround, some sort of patch or script?

Thanks!

 

[dustin91]

Argh, I just created a wrench in the spokes... some file names have the #-signs and can be saved properly in the .xls format. So it's not consistent in that respect. Any ideas out there?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Bob, on the first pass, that seems to have done the trick. Unfortunately,
everything we link to in this master spreadsheet is a file with one or two #'s
in the file name. And there's thousands of them. I can't change them and then
create new hyperlinks - I'd be retired before I finished!

Do you know of any workaround, some sort of patch or script?

Thanks!

No, I can't think of any workaround. There is no patch that I know of. Use
send feedback from the help menu to tell microsoft of the problem. You can
probably develop an apple script to rename the files. Are the files on a
windows server? You may be able to do the same thing with a VB program
running in Excel on the server.

 

[dustin91]

I'll send them a note, or call customer service. Unfortunately, scripts and VB is way, WAY beyond my capabilities. Thanks for the help!