Excel 2004: All files now slip under toolbar, display atfraction of saved size

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

Excel 2004 has been working perfectly for my needs since the day after its
public release.

But my files that opened as they were saved with no problems before today
now:

1. Slip up under the lowest toolbar
2. Display in a fraction of the size with which they were saved over the
months and years. (example 5 rows of more than 40, half the width of the
original showing)

Similarly, brand new worksheets, slip up under the lowest toolbar.

I can grab both the old and new worksheets and drag them below the lowest
toolbar and jam them right up against the bottom of that toolbar and I can
manually re-size them and then save. Then they open as they should.


1. What might be the cause?

2. How do I prevent this in the future?

3. Which preference/s or other Library file/s should I restore from a
backup set when Excel files and new worksheets opened as saved. PLEASE
advise on this, even if you can provide a global fix macro in responding to
my 5th question.

4. Will those preference/s or file/s also open new worksheets as they did
up to today?

5. For a person who has no experience with macros, what might be the best
way to deal with such problems globally so one does not have to manually
adjust the size and positioning on the screen of each "old" Excel 2004 and
Excel X file?

Thanks very much.

Respectfully, Norm

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

Conditions have changed and some of the problems I reported have changed,
giving rise to new questions.

Excel 2004 has been working perfectly for my needs since the day after its
public release.

But my files that opened as they were saved with no problems before today
now:

1. Slip up under the lowest toolbar
2. Display in a fraction of the size with which they were saved over the
months and years. (example 5 rows of more than 40, half the width of the
original showing)

I can grab the old worksheets and drag them below the lowest
toolbar and jam them right up against the bottom of that toolbar and I can
manually re-size them and then save. Then they open as they should.

#1. This 3-step workaround continues to be effective, but there's got to be
a less tedious and time-consuming way. Please?

Similarly, brand new worksheets, slip up under the lowest toolbar.

#2. I created a new startup template for Excel and saved it in Microsoft
Office 2004/Office/Startup/Word/. Now, when I quit out of Excel 2004 and
re-launch the workbook that opens is positioned and sized as it should be.
But, if I click on New Workbook while in Excel, each new workbook that opens
butts down to the dock as it should but adds height that raises it above the
bottom toolbar. Help, please?

CLUE SUGGESTS CORRUPTION: When I boot into another drive's 2-week-old clone
of my OS 10.3.5 volume and launch Excel, I have NO problems in creating New
Workbooks or opening un-modified old files.

#3. Which preference/s or other Library file/s should I restore from a
backup set when Excel files and new worksheets fail to open with the same
position and display size as saved?

Thanks very much for whatever counsel you may give.

Respectfully, Norm

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

Thanks very much to a good Samaritan who offered this suggestion off-line:

³I noticed my bottom toolbar was just slightly off (barely noticeable) from
the left or the exact bottom of the toolbar right above it. When this was
the case, window sizing behaved dramatically differently. By moving the
bottom toolbar to the left and up slightly (or down) it affects where the
window sits.²

Aha! My lowest toolbar was, indeed, a millimeter off left alignment with
the toolbars above. I knew about the importance of making sure the toolbars
butted up to the top and bottom of adjacent toolbars, but had not thought to
check the left alignment.

What's interesting, however, is that even with the slight misalignment, the
older clone of my 10.3.5 volume Excel did not have the problem of files
slipping under the toolbar or displaying at a fraction of the the saved
size. Something, obviously, was corrupted in the primary hard drive's
10.3.5 volume, but not in the backup volume on the 2nd hard drive.

While I was waiting for responses to this thread, I trashed all Excel
preferences plus the Microsoft Carbon Registration Base preference and
Microsoft Components preference. Before that, I had created a new startup
template, but still had problems when creating new workbooks or opening
files saved before the corruption.

Trashing all the preferences, creating the new startup template, and the
good Samaritan's counsel fixed the problems.

I probably did overkill (and wasted a lot of time) in having to reset a lot
of Excel and Office preferences, so I will raise once again the unanswered
question posted on Sept. 2:

* -> Which preference/s or other Library file/s should one restore from a
backup set when Excel files and new worksheets fail to open with the same
position and display size as saved?

Respectfully, Norm

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