XL2000: Error Opening Excel File from Internet Explorer Address Bar (200704)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, when you click the Address bar arrow and select a Microsoft Excel 2000 workbook, you may receive the following error message:

A document with the name 'file name.xls' is already open. You cannot open two documents with the same name, even if the documents are in different folders. To open the second document, either close the document that's currently open, or rename one of the documents.

In Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, when you click the Address bar arrow and select a Microsoft Excel workbook, you may receive the following error message:

Reference Is Not Valid.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if all of the following conditions are true:

In the versions of Internet Explorer listed at the beginning of this article, you open an Excel workbook that contains hyperlinks.

-and-
You click a hyperlink in the Excel workbook that jumps to a named location within that same workbook.

-and-
After you follow the hyperlink to a named location in the workbook, you then click the same workbook name in the Address bar list.

NOTE: The error message may also occur when you open an Excel workbook in Internet Explorer and then attempt to open the same workbook again by selecting it from the Address bar list.

MORE INFORMATION

In Excel, you can use a hyperlink to jump to an object, file, page, or other destination, such as a named location or a specific cell range. When you follow a hyperlink to a named location or to a specific cell range in the same workbook, Excel performs a Goto command and selects the location in the same workbook. If the workbook is open in Internet Explorer, and if you follow the hyperlink, there is no way to go back to the previous location in the same workbook. When you click the Back button in Internet Explorer, you go to the previous address. If you select the workbook in the Address bar list, Internet Explorer attempts to open another copy of the same workbook and produces the error message described in the "Symptoms" section.

The Web toolbar in Excel allows you to go to the previous location in the same workbook, but you cannot display the Web toolbar inside Internet Explorer.

This problem does not occur in Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.x or later.