Can't Open File Errors !!!

[Stefan_Eb]

Since switching from a PowerMac G5 & PowerBook G4 with Office 2004 to
an iMac and a MacBook (German OSX all Software freshly installed) I
have problems with Excel files that won't open any more. Only files I
created after the switch show this behavior. Especially files with
Pivot Tables seem to be affected. It does not happen to every file and
no, i did not find any pattern. An Excel viewer in Parallels with OSX
shows the content of some of the files, but not of every file. So I
have the feeling that Excel & Rosetta are the problem. Any insights?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

My hunch is that permissions might not be set properly. Have you run Apple's
Disk Utility to repair permissions? If not, please try it.

Thanks.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

Since switching from a PowerMac G5 & PowerBook G4 with Office 2004 to
an iMac and a MacBook (German OSX all Software freshly installed) I
have problems with Excel files that won't open any more. Only files I
created after the switch show this behavior. Especially files with
Pivot Tables seem to be affected. It does not happen to every file and
no, i did not find any pattern. An Excel viewer in Parallels with OSX
shows the content of some of the files, but not of every file. So I
have the feeling that Excel & Rosetta are the problem. Any insights?

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Stefan_Eb]

I repaired permissions, but thisseems not to be the problem. You can
see that there is a Excel progress bar window (bar stops after the
first segment) behind the window that says it cannot read the file
"Kann Datei nicht lesen". So it seems that the file is corrupted.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi again,

Here are two possible file rescue options:

If you can find someone with Windows Office 2003 you could try using the
"Open and Repair" feature.

Another thought would be to try opening a troubled document in OpenOffice
and see what happens.

The real question is, "how did the files get damaged in the first place?" It
sounds quite mysterious to me and the corruption problem may still exist on
your machine.

-Jim

I repaired permissions, but thisseems not to be the problem. You can
see that there is a Excel progress bar window (bar stops after the
first segment) behind the window that says it cannot read the file
"Kann Datei nicht lesen". So it seems that the file is corrupted.

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Geoff Lilley]

I don't know if my two cents will help any. I've had that problem with
"file cannot be opened" multiple times. The only two commonalities
that I can point to are files with multiple PivotTables, and files that
I saved to my Desktop. That's not a sure-fire recipe for failure, but
it's pretty reliable.

The best solution that I've come up with to date is to re-create the
file using hte tried and true external reference. If the name of the
file is "corrupt.xls" and the sheet name is "sheet1," I would put my
"new" file in the same directory as the old, and, then, in the "new"
file, go to sheet1, and enter the following reference in A1:

=corrupt.xls:sheet1!A1

Then, I would AutoFill across and down.

I've gotten that to work before, even if it's not the prettiest method
around. Jim, I'm glad you took the time to address this issue; I
thought I was the only one out there with this problem.

PS - I can usually open the file on a PC pretty reliably, but not
100%, if it helps anything.

Geoff