XL97: Changes Not Saved When Workbook Is Opened in Microsoft Outlook (177970)

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to save a workbook in Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows, you may receive an error message similar to the following

Your changes could not be saved to '<Filename.xls>', but were saved to a temporary document named '<Hexadecimal>'. Close the existing document, then open the temporary document and save it under a new name.

where <Filename.xls> is the name of the workbook (for example, Book1.xls) and <Hexadecimal> is a hexadecimal string (for example, AEF345D).

CAUSE

This problem may occur when the following conditions are true:

You have installed Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Outlook 97 on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows NT Workstation, version 4.0.

-and-
In Microsoft Outlook 97, you open a Microsoft Excel workbook by following these steps: 1. On the Outlook Bar, click Other. Then, click either My Documents or My Computer. 2. In the right pane, double-click the Microsoft Excel workbook that you want to open.

-and-
The workbook contains one or more Visual Basic for Applications modules, class modules, or UserForms.

-and-
You save the workbook by clicking Save or Save As on the File menu.

When this problem occurs, the original workbook (Book1.xls) is not saved, but the new workbook (AEF345D) remains intact.

NOTE: This problem does not occur on a computer running Microsoft Windows 95.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, rename the new workbook to use the original workbook name by using either of the following methods.

Renaming a File in Microsoft Outlook

To rename the file, follow these steps:

On the Outlook Bar, click Other. Then, click either My Documents or My Computer.
In the right pane, select the workbook with the hexadecimal name.
On the File menu, click Rename.
Enter the correct name of the workbook with the file name extension (for example, Book1.xls). Then, click OK.

Renaming a File in Windows Explorer

Start Microsoft Windows Explorer and go to the folder in which you stored the original workbook (for example, C:\My Documents).
Select the workbook with the hexadecimal name.
On the File menu, click Rename.
Enter the correct name of the workbook with the file name extension (for example, Book1.xls). Press ENTER.

To prevent this problem from occurring, open workbooks from within Microsoft Excel 97 either by clicking Open on the File menu or by double- clicking them in Windows Explorer.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about the error message in the "Symptoms" section, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

113600 XL: "Your Changes Could Not Be Saved Error" While Saving to Network Drive