OFF98: Find File Hangs Office Programs (242028)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition
  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
This article was previously published under Q242028

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Find File feature to locate Microsoft Excel workbooks that match certain criteria, the Find File search may stop responding, and you may have to force quit (press COMMAND+OPTION+ESC) Microsoft Excel.

CAUSE

Find File may stop responding when you do all of the following:
  • In the Search dialog box you click Advanced Search.

    -and-
  • In the Advanced Search dialog box, you type some text into the Containing text box.

    -and-
  • One of your workbooks in the search path contains an internal record that cannot be read by Find File.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem use either of the following methods.

Method1: Use Find File in Microsoft Word

  1. Start Microsoft Word.
  2. On the File menu, click Open.
  3. In the Select a Document dialog box, click Find File.
  4. Select the appropriate version of Microsoft Excel in the File type list.
  5. Click Advanced Search.
  6. On the Summary tab, type your search text in the Containing text box, and click OK.
  7. Click OK in the Search dialog box.
If you select one of the workbooks found using this search method and click Open, the workbook does not open in Microsoft Excel. Instead, Microsoft Word attempts to open the workbook.

NOTE: If Find File stops responding when you use Microsoft Word, press COMMAND+OPTION+ESC and click Force Quit to force quit Microsoft Word. If this occurs, try using method 2 below.

Method 2: Use Find File on Your Desktop

Use the appropriate method for your operating system.

Mac OS 8.5 and Later

  1. On the Application menu, click Finder.
  2. On the File menu, click Find.
  3. Click the Find by Content tab.
  4. Select the option that you want under the Search group. If you click in the Finder selection, the active drive/folder is searched. If you click on specific volumes you also have to select the drive(s) that you want in the list of drives displayed.
  5. Type the text that you want to search for in the Words box and click Find. The results of the search are displayed in the Items Found window.
Note, you may have to index your drive(s) before using the Find by Content tab. Please see the Mac OS Help contents for more information about how to create an index.

Mac OS 8.1 and earlier

  1. On the Application menu, click Finder.
  2. On the File menu, click Find.
  3. In the Find items list, select the location where you want to search.
  4. Hold down OPTION, and click the drop-down arrow in the list containing name.
  5. Click contents in the list that appears.
  6. In the middle drop-down list, click contains.
  7. Type the text that you want to search for in the box to the right of contains.
  8. Click Find. The results of the search are displayed in the Items Found window.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/6/2003
Keywords:kbbug kbpending KB242028
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.