XL98: File with Many Cell Notes Opens Slowly (184781)

SYMPTOMS

When you open a file in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, one of the following problems may occur:

Microsoft Excel 98 may take a long time to open the file. Also, after you open the file in Microsoft Excel and save it, the file may increase significantly in size. -or-
Microsoft Excel 98 may quit, and you receive the following error message:
The application "Microsoft Excel" has
unexpectedly quit, because an error of type
2 occurred.

You should save your work in other open
applications and restart the computer.
-or-
Microsoft Excel 98 may quit with no error message.

CAUSE

These problems may occur when the following conditions are true:

You open a file that was created Microsoft Excel version 5.0. -and-
The file contains a large number of cell notes.

Microsoft Excel 98 uses comments instead of notes. The file is opened slowly because Microsoft Excel 98 converts the cell notes to cell comments.

WORKAROUND

If you do not need the cell notes, you can work around this problem by reopening the file in Microsoft Excel 5.0 and clearing all the notes in the workbook. The file is then opened significantly faster in Microsoft Excel 98.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Like cell notes, comments are attached to worksheet cells. You can view each comment when you move the pointer over the cell, or you can view all of the comments at the same time. You can print comments in the same locations in which they appear on the worksheet, or you can print comments in a list at the end of the worksheet. Also, Microsoft Excel adds your user name to the top of each cell note that you insert on your worksheet.

REFERENCES

For more information about Cell Comments, click Contents And Index on the Help menu (or on the Balloon Help menu if you are using a version of the Macintosh operating system earlier than 8.0), click the Index button in Microsoft Excel 98 Help, type the following text

comments

and then click Show Topics. Select the "Add a comment to a cell" topic, and click Go To. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.