Problem saving Excel 97 file...

[qball]

Other than concurrency (more than one user has the file open), there were major issues with SP2. Do you have SR2 or Office97 patched with SP2?

[jharrison]

i don't know what sp2 you are talking about. the office 97 is sr2, the clients run win98se and the servers run nt 4.0 sp6.

[jharrison]

There's an Excel file on the network that is frequently accessed (daily) by multiple users. They make quick changes to it, save it and then close it. I've just been told that something has started happening on a recurring basis. When the user has made changes to the file and clicks the close button (X in the top right corner of Excel) it asks them if they want to save the changes. They click Yes and everything seems fine. The problem is that sometimes the next time they go into the file the changes are missing. They say that it appears that if they choose to save it (File>>Save) before exiting the program this doesn't happen. We use Excel 97 SR2 on Win98SE and an NT 4.0 network. Any ideas anyone or is this just "user error"?

[qball]

When Office97 came out (you would think 3 years ago, but more like 2...), it was almost immediately followed with not ONE but TWO Service Packs. A lot had to do with office95 compatibility, but who cares. Anyway, SP1 was OK, SP2 rendered Office97 virtually useless. Microsuck ate crow and announced not to use SP2 (why did you release, MS?). This is what I am referring to.

It sound like you actually bought a later version of Office97 and my advice is useless.

Can you verify and recreate this behavior? Make your own spreadsheet and try. My Excel 97 SR2 (just noticed, myself) seems to save properly....

[jharrison]

qball,

i'd be surprised if i could duplicate the behavior. at the moment, with the current spreadsheet that seems to be having the problem, it is happening intermittently, not consistently. can you say user error??? i'll see what i can do. thx for the help.

[qball]

no worries.

Intermittent (sp?) problems are next to impossible to debug, unitl you actually find the solution.

I'm just trying to brainstorm, maybe say something that might be a concern, doing my bestest to get YOU to figure out the problem. Sometimes (I try to do this as much as possible) a fresh/virgin pair of eyes can see/think of something you don't. Geez, I ramble...

Given a problem, most often a lack of solutions exist, not too many solutions.

Does it only happen with certain users?....

[jharrison]

qball,

sorry for the delay. i was out for the last 3 days.

anyway, it happens to the three user's that use it. all three experience it. that's the story i'm told, anyway.

[qball]

I haven't been to this site much in the last three days, so there!

Uh-ha!

Perhaps, the file is corrupted. Create a new file from scratch. Save original file in funky format (123, older XL version).

Try to import to get data. Else open other format and try to copy to new file.

See if behavior continues with new file.

Try moving file to different server, or drive on current server. The file may be corrupted or the HD media may have some bad sectors.

How fast is the access to this drive, if it is kinda slow, the save may fail and thus you have your problem.

Hope something helps.....