Problems Saving in Older File Format

Subscriber Mike Newton wrote about a problem he was having with a workbook he saved for his client. Mike uses Excel 2000, but his client uses Excel 97 and wanted the workbook in that format. When Mike tried to open the file back on his system, he got errors related to macros.

The first thing to remember both Excel 97 and Excel 2000 use the same file format. Thus, the same file should be able to be loaded under both versions, without the need to do any conversion. This important fact is easy to miss, particularly if you drop-down the Save As Type list in the Save As dialog box and see a format called Microsoft Excel 97-Excel 2000 & 5.0/95 Workbook. You don't use this format to save something for Excel 97; you use it to create two files from the current workbook--one that works in Excel 97/2000 and the other that works in Excel 5.0/95.

This, of course, doesn't explain why Mike had problems opening the workbook back up in his version of Excel. Since it cannot be related to the workbook format, the answer must lie in something that happened to the workbook while it was on the client's Excel 97 system. The causes could be legion, but it is possible that the workbook became infected with a macro virus, or the workbook was corrupted because of some problem with the client's system. (The fact that Mike can't save the file on his system would indicate this latter possibility.)

To check if it was the client's system, take the file you gave to them (before they worked with it) and open it on a different Excel 97 system. If it works with no problem, and you are able to load it back into your Excel 2000 system, then you know the problem is with the client's computer.