Bug? Square brackets in file name confuses sheet renames

[Rob van Gelder]

Hi.

I might have stumbled across a bug - could someone please doublecheck.
I'm using Excel 2003 SP1

I would submit this Microsoft but I dont have a clue how to submit a bug to
them!

Create a new workbook
Save this as test.xls
rename test.xls to test[].xls
open test[].xls
rename the worksheet to have a space in it. eg. Sheet 1 instead of Sheet1
The sheet name becomes .xls]Sheet 1

 

[JulieD]

Hi Rob

this has been raised in these ngs before - it seems that ver 2003 does not
support the use of [ or ] in worksheet names any more - a quick google
search (on "worksheet names" and 2003 - sorted by date order will bring up
recent discussions on the topic)

if you'ld like to submit a request / suggestion etc to MS you can email them
at
(e-mail address removed)

with Excel in the subject line and an outline of why you'll like this
functionality put back in or whatever.

Cheers
JulieD

 

[Rob van Gelder]

Julie,

Thanks for your reply

Perhaps I wasn't clear.
This issue has to do with [ ] in workbook names, not worksheet names.


--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel

Hi Rob

this has been raised in these ngs before - it seems that ver 2003 does not
support the use of [ or ] in worksheet names any more - a quick google
search (on "worksheet names" and 2003 - sorted by date order will bring up
recent discussions on the topic)

if you'ld like to submit a request / suggestion etc to MS you can email
them at
(e-mail address removed)

with Excel in the subject line and an outline of why you'll like this
functionality put back in or whatever.

Cheers
JulieD

Hi.

I might have stumbled across a bug - could someone please doublecheck.
I'm using Excel 2003 SP1

I would submit this Microsoft but I dont have a clue how to submit a bug
to them!

Create a new workbook
Save this as test.xls
rename test.xls to test[].xls
open test[].xls
rename the worksheet to have a space in it. eg. Sheet 1 instead of Sheet1
The sheet name becomes .xls]Sheet 1

 

[Myrna Larson]

Ah, but it does. Your bug is that the sheet name is changed.

 

[JulieD]

hi Rob

my glasses obviously need cleaning - however, MS have never allowed
filenames with [] in them (try doing a file / save and use the [] in the
name), therefore, by doing it "outside" of excel and then opening it up in
excel it's getting confused - which is probably why MS doesn't allow you to
do it from within excel ... btw it doesn't seem to be a problem if you don't
rename the sheet tabs.

BTW it also behaves exactly the same in ver 2002

Cheers
julieD

Julie,

Thanks for your reply

Perhaps I wasn't clear.
This issue has to do with [ ] in workbook names, not worksheet names.


--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel

Hi Rob

this has been raised in these ngs before - it seems that ver 2003 does
not support the use of [ or ] in worksheet names any more - a quick
google search (on "worksheet names" and 2003 - sorted by date order will
bring up recent discussions on the topic)

if you'ld like to submit a request / suggestion etc to MS you can email
them at
(e-mail address removed)

with Excel in the subject line and an outline of why you'll like this
functionality put back in or whatever.

Cheers
JulieD

Hi.

I might have stumbled across a bug - could someone please doublecheck.
I'm using Excel 2003 SP1

I would submit this Microsoft but I dont have a clue how to submit a bug
to them!

Create a new workbook
Save this as test.xls
rename test.xls to test[].xls
open test[].xls
rename the worksheet to have a space in it. eg. Sheet 1 instead of
Sheet1
The sheet name becomes .xls]Sheet 1

 

[Rob van Gelder]

Thanks Julie - bug confirmed.

--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel

hi Rob

my glasses obviously need cleaning - however, MS have never allowed
filenames with [] in them (try doing a file / save and use the [] in the
name), therefore, by doing it "outside" of excel and then opening it up in
excel it's getting confused - which is probably why MS doesn't allow you
to do it from within excel ... btw it doesn't seem to be a problem if you
don't rename the sheet tabs.

BTW it also behaves exactly the same in ver 2002

Cheers
julieD

Julie,

Thanks for your reply

Perhaps I wasn't clear.
This issue has to do with [ ] in workbook names, not worksheet names.


--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel

Hi Rob

this has been raised in these ngs before - it seems that ver 2003 does
not support the use of [ or ] in worksheet names any more - a quick
google search (on "worksheet names" and 2003 - sorted by date order will
bring up recent discussions on the topic)

if you'ld like to submit a request / suggestion etc to MS you can email
them at
(e-mail address removed)

with Excel in the subject line and an outline of why you'll like this
functionality put back in or whatever.

Cheers
JulieD

message Hi.

I might have stumbled across a bug - could someone please doublecheck.
I'm using Excel 2003 SP1

I would submit this Microsoft but I dont have a clue how to submit a
bug to them!

Create a new workbook
Save this as test.xls
rename test.xls to test[].xls
open test[].xls
rename the worksheet to have a space in it. eg. Sheet 1 instead of
Sheet1
The sheet name becomes .xls]Sheet 1

 

[JulieD]

Hi Rob

not sure if you're allowed to call it a "bug" if the thing that
precipitatesit isn't allowed by the program in the first place

Cheers
JuileD

Thanks Julie - bug confirmed.

--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel

hi Rob

my glasses obviously need cleaning - however, MS have never allowed
filenames with [] in them (try doing a file / save and use the [] in the
name), therefore, by doing it "outside" of excel and then opening it up
in excel it's getting confused - which is probably why MS doesn't allow
you to do it from within excel ... btw it doesn't seem to be a problem if
you don't rename the sheet tabs.

BTW it also behaves exactly the same in ver 2002

Cheers
julieD

Julie,

Thanks for your reply

Perhaps I wasn't clear.
This issue has to do with [ ] in workbook names, not worksheet names.


--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel


Hi Rob

this has been raised in these ngs before - it seems that ver 2003 does
not support the use of [ or ] in worksheet names any more - a quick
google search (on "worksheet names" and 2003 - sorted by date order
will bring up recent discussions on the topic)

if you'ld like to submit a request / suggestion etc to MS you can email
them at
(e-mail address removed)

with Excel in the subject line and an outline of why you'll like this
functionality put back in or whatever.

Cheers
JulieD

message Hi.

I might have stumbled across a bug - could someone please doublecheck.
I'm using Excel 2003 SP1

I would submit this Microsoft but I dont have a clue how to submit a
bug to them!

Create a new workbook
Save this as test.xls
rename test.xls to test[].xls
open test[].xls
rename the worksheet to have a space in it. eg. Sheet 1 instead of
Sheet1
The sheet name becomes .xls]Sheet 1

 

[Bob Phillips]

But if the OS allows you to add [] and no MS product recognise fields with
[], that's a bug. It may be different development teams, but it is one
organisation.

Hi Rob

not sure if you're allowed to call it a "bug" if the thing that
precipitatesit isn't allowed by the program in the first place

Cheers
JuileD

Thanks Julie - bug confirmed.

--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel

hi Rob

my glasses obviously need cleaning - however, MS have never allowed
filenames with [] in them (try doing a file / save and use the [] in the
name), therefore, by doing it "outside" of excel and then opening it up
in excel it's getting confused - which is probably why MS doesn't allow
you to do it from within excel ... btw it doesn't seem to be a problem if
you don't rename the sheet tabs.

BTW it also behaves exactly the same in ver 2002

Cheers
julieD


Julie,

Thanks for your reply

Perhaps I wasn't clear.
This issue has to do with [ ] in workbook names, not worksheet names.


--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel


Hi Rob

this has been raised in these ngs before - it seems that ver 2003 does
not support the use of [ or ] in worksheet names any more - a quick
google search (on "worksheet names" and 2003 - sorted by date order
will bring up recent discussions on the topic)

if you'ld like to submit a request / suggestion etc to MS you can email
them at
(e-mail address removed)

with Excel in the subject line and an outline of why you'll like this
functionality put back in or whatever.

Cheers
JulieD

message Hi.

I might have stumbled across a bug - could someone please doublecheck.
I'm using Excel 2003 SP1

I would submit this Microsoft but I dont have a clue how to submit a
bug to them!

Create a new workbook
Save this as test.xls
rename test.xls to test[].xls
open test[].xls
rename the worksheet to have a space in it. eg. Sheet 1 instead of
Sheet1
The sheet name becomes .xls]Sheet 1

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Of course, not everyone runs XL on an OS from that organization (and XL
was originally developed for Macintosh, long before Windows was viable).

That said, it does seem rather short-sighted of Office devs not to come
up with a way of dealing with *all* potential filenames.

 

[Bob Phillips]

Sorry JE, not slight intended against Mac users, I just forget

Bob

Of course, not everyone runs XL on an OS from that organization (and XL
was originally developed for Macintosh, long before Windows was viable).

That said, it does seem rather short-sighted of Office devs not to come
up with a way of dealing with *all* potential filenames.

But if the OS allows you to add [] and no MS product recognise fields with
[], that's a bug. It may be different development teams, but it is one
organisation.

 

[Tushar Mehta]

You can call it a bug if you want, but MS calls it as something outside
the specification of XL. I've filed a bug report about this -- and a
slew of related problems, which I assume you haven't discovered yet --
and appealed the initial closure of the bug report. Nonetheless, it
was closed with the end result that XL doesn't allow characters in
filenames that are OK with the OS.

In fact, if you know how (or accidentally as in my case) it is possible
to even create a sheet with disallowed characters in its name! XL will
handle such a sheet but in a limited manner.

The eventual result may (will?) be a series of unexpected XL errors but
that's the way it is.

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
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