Excel Import into Access 2003

[Don K]

I and one of my clients are using Access 2003, and I have developed a
routine that successfully
imports an Excel spreadsheet that is generated from a Web site also using
Access 2003 into my Access database. Some of my clients are now using Office
2007, and I have downloaded and installed the 2007 Compatibility Pack for
Office viewers.
Unfortunately now when I try to import this spreadsheet, I get the error
"3274: The external table is not in the expected format." After much testing
I have determined that even though the spreadsheet has not changed, when the
spreadsheet is saved to my computer it is automatically saved in the new
2007
format. I have to open the file on my computer, explicitly save it as an
"Excel 97-Excel 2003 ..." file,
overwriting the original from the web site, before the import will work. Or
if I have the spreadsheet open it also imports correctly, which surprises me
since I thought the spreadsheet would be locked when I had it open. Is there
a registry entry or other fix that will allow me to either automatically
download the file as an Excel 2003 format, or allow me to select the format
in the dropdown when I save the file?

 

[RogerManiccia@ebs]

Don,

Unfortunately I do not have a solution to your problem. I have a comment to
your statement that you are able to import the Excel Spreadsheet when you
have the spreadsheet open. I ran into the same issue this week, which was
very frustrating. I would like to know why I am able to import the
spreadsheet when the spreadsheet is open, but get the following error message:

"The Wizard is unable to access the information in the #fileName#. Please
check that the file exists and is in the correct format."

Is this the error message that you receive? Hopefully someone will be able
to explain this.

--
Roger Maniccia
emdeon
26 Century Blvd
Nashville, Tenn
615-886-9031

 

[Don K]

Roger, my error message is different. I get error #"3274: The external table
is not in the expected format." I think that the reason that the import is
successful is that when the file is open, it is in the format that Access
expects, Excel 2003. However, when it is closed, Access does not recognize
the format, which I believe, although I have no proof, that it is in Excel
2007, since I have the Office Compatibility pack installed. I do not
understand why the file is not locked.