Unrecognizable format message

[Sainchuk]

Version: Older version Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) A coworker and I have been successful exchanging .xls documents. I then took 4 of the Excel documents and merged them into one document making 4 sheet tabs so that all the info could be in one document.

She now can't open this document and gets a message that says it is an "unrecognizable format".

I do not know what program she uses to work with Excel but I could ask. Also, is it a size thing...the new document is 111 KB.

It is a Microsoft Excel 97-2004 workbook type.

 

[XinXin]

Hi, what's your XL version? Please make sure your XL is fully updated. Aslo, if you can send me ([email protected]) your workbook, I'd be happy to investigate why it doesn't open.

Thanks,
XinXin Liu
Test Lead, Macintosh Business Unit, Microsoft

 

[John McGhie]

How are you "exchanging .xls documents"?

If it is by email, ensure that the file name extension .xls is correct,
otherwise some email systems will mangle the attachment on the way through.

It may help to .zip the .xls to prevent the email system from destroying it.

"Unrecognisable format" usually means that the recipient application has
been offered a .xlsx XML format when it was expecting a binary .xls.

Warn your colleague that opening files out of the email is always a
"lottery". The outcome depends on how well the computer and email system
are set up. Chances are if she saves it to her hard drive then uses
File>Open from within Excel, the workbook will open up perfectly.

Hope this helps

Version: Older version Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) A
coworker and I have been successful exchanging .xls documents. I then took 4
of the Excel documents and merged them into one document making 4 sheet tabs
so that all the info could be in one document.

She now can't open this document and gets a message that says it is an
"unrecognizable format".

I do not know what program she uses to work with Excel but I could ask. Also,
is it a size thing...the new document is 111 KB.

It is a Microsoft Excel 97-2004 workbook type.

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]

 

[Sainchuk]

How are you "exchanging .xls documents"?

>
> If it is by email, ensure that the file name extension .xls is correct,
> otherwise some email systems will mangle the attachment on the way through.
>
> It may help to .zip the .xls to prevent the email system from destroying it.
>
> "Unrecognisable format" usually means that the recipient application has
> been offered a .xlsx XML format when it was expecting a binary .xls.
>
> Warn your colleague that opening files out of the email is always a
> "lottery". The outcome depends on how well the computer and email system
> are set up. Chances are if she saves it to her hard drive then uses
> File>Open from within Excel, the workbook will open up perfectly.
>
> Hope this helps
>
>
> On 24/04/10 2:19 AM, in article (e-mail address removed)2ac0,
> "[email protected]" wrote:
>
>
> --
>
> The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
> matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!
>
> John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
> McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
> Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]
>
>
> Thank you to both XinXin and John. For some reason I could not get back on to this site so my explanation to XinXin was not received. What I ended up doing was to rework this same document using the old PC and then e-mailed the document from the PC.

Originally I had taken 4 spreadsheets created on the PC (a Microsoft 1997-2004 workbook) and merged them into one document on my new Mac. This seemed to work. I have also made changes and saved the document in question on both machines and e-mailed them back and forth and it now seems fine. I really don't know why.

Thanks for trying to explain things to me but I don't get it so my fingers are crossed.