XL2000: Using Microsoft Excel to Save a File to an FTP Site (211713)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 2000
This article was previously published under Q211713

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel 2000, when you save a workbook or any other file to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site, the name of the file is not always case sensitive. Therefore, you may inadvertently overwrite another file.

This article contains information about using Microsoft Excel to save files to FTP sites.

MORE INFORMATION

How to Save a File to an FTP Site

To save a file to an FTP site, follow these steps:
  1. On the File menu, click Save As.
  2. In the File name box, type the path to the FTP site. For example:

    ftp://myftp

    Press ENTER.
  3. Type the name of the file (myfile.xls, for example) in the File name box, and click Save.
NOTE: You can combine steps 2 and 3 into a single step by typing the complete path to the FTP site and the file. For example, you can type the following in the File name box

ftp://myftp/myfile.xls

and press ENTER.

Saving a File When a File with the Exact Same Name Exists

When you save a file to an FTP site, Microsoft Excel 2000 determines whether a file with the exact same name already exists in that location. If such a file exists, you receive a warning message similar to the following:
The file 'ftp://myftp/myfile.xls' already exists. Do you want to replace the existing file?
If you click Yes, the existing file is replaced. If you click No, the Save As dialog box opens again. This is normal behavior in Microsoft Excel.

Saving a File When a File with a Similar Name Exists

If you save a file to an FTP site, and the FTP site already contains a file that has a name that is the same as the new file except for case, you do not receive a warning message.

For example, if the FTP site ftp://myftp already contains a file named "myfile.xls", you will not receive a warning message if you save a file named "MYFILE.xls" to the same location, because, technically, the file names are different.

However, the original file may be overwritten by the new file. This problem may occur if your FTP server is running Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 or earlier, or any other operating system that does not support case sensitivity in file names.

NOTE: This problem does not occur when saving files to an FTP server that is running UNIX.

Following the example shown above, the new file "MYFILE.xls" may overwrite the original file "myfile.xls". To prevent this problem from occurring, make sure that your file names differ in some manner other than case; for example, add one or more other characters to the file name, so that it is unique.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/27/2003
Keywords:kbhowto kbweb KB211713
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.