Excel properties - 'archive'? - probably a simple thing

Hi,

I'm having a problem running a Word macro which mailmerges data from an
excel file I get sent regularly. This only started happening recently, so something has changed, and I think it's something to do with how the .xls file is saved.

The error I get is "External table is not in the expected format". It complains a bit, thinks for ages, eventually executes the macro, says the Excel file is now available to read/write, then hangs Excel.

I noticed that my macro runs fine if I open the Excel document then 'save as' the same name. Looking at file>properties within each Excel document I see the original has nothing under the general tab and the archive box is unticked. The resaved document has all the 'type', 'location', 'size' etc data as you would expect, plus the archive box is ticked.

Anyone know what's going on here then?

Cheers,

Shedlord

 

The archive attribute is generally meanngless. It's supposed to be used for when a file has been backed up or archived, but nothing prevents an application from changing it whenever it wants. It does not affect how applications or the OS interact with the file the way the Hidden, System, and Read-only attributes do.

Most likely, the people making the Excel document aren't saving it in the same format they were. You'll notice Excel has dozens of file formats you can save to. Make sure the sender is saving the file in the correct format.

 

Well, the extension is just yer normal .xls when they send it. It's still .xls once I've resaved it.

Working through the different versions of Excel you can pick I think it looks like they are covering all bases by saving the file in the oldest possible Excel format.

Thanks DC