OFF97: Error Closing MS Word Document Containing Worksheet (172413)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word 97 Service Release 1 (SR-1), when you close a document that contains an embedded Microsoft Excel 97 worksheet object, you may receive the following error message:

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

If you click Details, you receive an error message similar to the following:

EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL at
0137:bff9a5d0.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the following conditions are true:

The Microsoft Excel 97 worksheet object is still active when you close the Microsoft Word document.

-and-
You close the Microsoft Word document by pressing CTRL+F4.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, use any of the following methods to close a Microsoft Word document that contains an embedded Microsoft Excel 97 worksheet object:

On the File menu, click Close.

-or-
Click the Close button (the button with an "X"), located at the upper- right corner of the Microsoft Word document window.

-or-
Deactivate the Microsoft Excel 97 worksheet by pressing ESC or by clicking anywhere in the Microsoft Word document. Then, close the document by pressing CTRL+F4.

If you quit Microsoft Word 97 SR-1 by pressing ALT+F4, by clicking Exit on the File menu, or by clicking the Close button at the upper-right corner of the Microsoft Word 97 program window, the problem does not occur.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Word 97 Service Release 1. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

NOTE: This problem does not occur in the original version of Microsoft Word 97.

MORE INFORMATION

When you close a Microsoft Word document by pressing CTRL+F4, if you click Yes when you are prompted to save changes to the document, the changes are correctly saved even if the problem occurs. The invalid page fault occurs after you save or close the document that contains the Microsoft Excel worksheet object.