Excel in Office for Mac 2008 features

[Foosh]

I've had Excel crash numerous times the first day using it. THe Auto Save feature does not seem to be working. Each time it crashes it brings back the old saved spreadsheet with none of the changes. Auto Save is set to 10 minutes and sometimes it had been hours and still reverted back to the old saved sheet and not the updated autosaved one.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I've had Excel crash numerous times the first day using it. THe Auto Save
feature does not seem to be working. Each time it crashes it brings back the
old saved spreadsheet with none of the changes. Auto Save is set to 10
minutes and sometimes it had been hours and still reverted back to the old
saved sheet and not the updated autosaved one.

AutoRecover (not AutoSave - *that* feature hasn't been part of XL for a
couple of versions now) saves files in the

~ocuments:MIcrosoft User Data:Office 2008 AutoRecovery:

folder. These files are hidden, and their file names starts with "~ar"

Can you tell if these files are being created (set your AR time to 1
minute, then make a change in the workbook)?

If you're using Leopard, you can see hidden files if you navigate to the
folder above in Finder, type CMD-F, and choose FIle Visibility from the
Kind dropdown - if that's not an option, choose Other..., and check the
File Visiblilty checkbox - and set it to Invisible.

Alternatively, you can enter this command in the Terminal.app:

ls -al ~/Documents/Microsoft\ User\ Data/Office\ 2008\ AutoRecovery/~*

and hit Return.

Do you see the AR file? Does it update when it should (note that if you
don't change anything in the workbook, AR will not save the file.

Note that, unlike AutoSave, AutoRecover files are deleted whenever XL
closes normally.

 

[Foosh]

Why then does it have the option to AutoRecover under Save in the Excel Preferences menu?????

When I used Excel in Office 2004 and it crashed, I would get the recovered file when I re-started Excel. I could then re-name it and replace the saved version. Now I am getting the recovered file but it does not have the saved work up to that point, only the work from the previous save, which means the Auto Recover is not doing what it normally does in Excel and Word from Office 2004 and previous versions.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Why then does it have the option to AutoRecover under Save in the Excel
Preferences menu?????

Because it has to go somewhere?

Regardless, AutoRecover is not the same as the old AutoSave feature.

When I used Excel in Office 2004 and it crashed, I would get the recovered
file when I re-started Excel. I could then re-name it and replace the saved
version.

And that's exactly what *should* happen with XL08's AutoRecover, and
it's exactly what *does* happen on my computers when I force XL08 to
crash.

Now I am getting the recovered file but it does not have the saved
work up to that point, only the work from the previous save, which
means the Auto Recover is not doing what it normally does in Excel
and Word from Office 2004 and previous versions.

That's why I asked the questions that you didn't answer - to try to
diagnose why this isn't happening on *your* system...

 

[Foosh]

I find that when I am in the process of typing in Excel and the AutoRecover save begins, Excel will ALWAYS crash after the AutoRecover save completes and whatever AutoRecover files have been saved will NOT show up when Excel re-starts. If I work on an Excel worksheet and then, without saving, come back hours later and begin work again and the AutoRecover save begins, Excel will crash and the saved work will be lost back to the previous save. The AutoRecover feature will NOT work. In Office 2004 for Mac the AutoRecover feature always preserved the work done and would not crash if I was working when the AutoReover save was in progress.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I find that when I am in the process of typing in Excel and the AutoRecover
save begins, Excel will ALWAYS crash after the AutoRecover save completes and
whatever AutoRecover files have been saved will NOT show up when Excel
re-starts. If I work on an Excel worksheet and then, without saving, come
back hours later and begin work again and the AutoRecover save begins, Excel
will crash and the saved work will be lost back to the previous save. The
AutoRecover feature will NOT work. In Office 2004 for Mac the AutoRecover
feature always preserved the work done and would not crash if I was working
when the AutoReover save was in progress.

Hmm.. something very bizarre is happening with your copy of XL.
AutoRecover by design doesn't fire while you're in the process of
entering data. It should wait until you've completed an entry.

Does this happen in a different user account?

Do you have a folder in your Microsoft User Data (MUD) named Office 2008
Autorecovery?

Do a find (in Finder) on the MUD folder for invisible files starting
with "~ar" (no quotes). Are any there?

 

[Foosh]

The Office 2008 Autorecovery file is completely empty- no Word or Excel files at all.

I tried to e-mail you a screenshot of the MUD file contents but it bounced back

 

[Foosh]

I removed and reinstalled Office 2008 and as soon as I started working on Excel, the Autorecovery started. As soon as it reached 100%, Excel crashed and I lost all my work AGAIN!

 

[Foosh]

Turned off Autorecover in the Preferences and it still tries to make Autorecover saves and still crashes every time it Autorecovers.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I removed and reinstalled Office 2008 and as soon as I started working on
Excel, the Autorecovery started. As soon as it reached 100%, Excel crashed
and I lost all my work AGAIN!

First, removing and reinstalling applications is almost never effective
in solving problems. Apps just don't corrupt that often. It just makes
extra work for you.

Problems are usually with support files - and usually preferences. The
XL08 preference file is

~:Libraryreferences:com.microsoft.Excel.plist

The particular preferences associated with AutoRecover are

2008\Microsoft Excel\AutoRecoverEnabled
2008\Microsoft Excel\AutoRecoverTime

I don't see the default folder specified anywhere.

However, if you delete that file with XL closed, XL will create a new
one from internal settings.

The only other thing I can think of is to check permissions on the

Office 2008 AutoRecovery

folder to make sure that you have permission to write to read and write
to it.

 

[Foosh]

Deleted the ~:Libraryreferences:com.microsoft.Excel.plist

Checked permissions on Office 2008 AutoRecovery (in the MUD file in the documents folder, correct? It's a folder though not a file)

Can't locate
2008\Microsoft Excel\AutoRecoverEnabled
2008\Microsoft Excel\AutoRecoverTime

Where would I find these?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Can't locate<br>
2008\Microsoft Excel\AutoRecoverEnabled<br>
2008\Microsoft Excel\AutoRecoverTime<br>
<br>
Where would I find these?

They're preferences in the com.microsoft.Excel.plist file. If you
deleted that file (with XL closed) they should be set to their default
value.

 

[Foosh]

I did that and it was OK for a short time. It did it again in the middle of an AutoRecovery save just now. I was copying a line in Excel to paste during an AutoRecovery save and it crashed again.

 

[Foosh]

I had been saving my spreadsheets in the new .xlsx format. Went back to the old .xls format and I am not getting the crashing upon AutoRecovery. When it does AutoRecover a file, it comes up in a binary format .xlsb. What is the format I should be using. I assume the .xlsx format is the new Office 2008 format but it keeps crashing 3 or 4 times every hour. Should I call Tech Support since we keep trying all sorts of things and nothing has worked yet.

 

[Foosh]

MORE FUN AND GAMES WITH THIS UNBELIEVABLY BUGGY SOFTWARE. I have stopped the crashing by saving the spreadsheet in the .xls format instead of the .xlsx format. However, each time I save it says I may lose information because I am using the .xls old format. 5 separate times in the past 24 hours it has absolutely frozen my entire Mac Book Pro. I have all the latest 10.5.2 updates and it is not even possible to force quit Excel. It requires removing the battery from the Mac Book Pro and then re-starting. I am damned if I do and damned if I don't. THis is the worst Office yet. Incredible. I've wasted hours and hours trying to get a usable version of my Excel spreadsheets.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have all the latest 10.5.2 updates and it is not even possible to force
quit Excel. It requires removing the battery from the Mac Book Pro and then
re-starting.

I'm no Leopard expert, but the inability to force quit sounds much more
like a system problem than a problem with Office.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

MORE FUN AND GAMES WITH THIS UNBELIEVABLY BUGGY SOFTWARE. I have stopped the
crashing by saving the spreadsheet in the .xls format instead of the .xlsx
format. However, each time I save it says I may lose information because I am
using the .xls old format. 5 separate times in the past 24 hours it has
absolutely frozen my entire Mac Book Pro. I have all the latest 10.5.2 updates
and it is not even possible to force quit Excel. It requires removing the
battery from the Mac Book Pro and then re-starting. I am damned if I do and
damned if I don't. THis is the worst Office yet. Incredible. I've wasted hours
and hours trying to get a usable version of my Excel spreadsheets.

And, just to establish a benchmark, I'm using Office 2008 on my MacBook Pro
with 10.5.2, and haven't had a single problem. I use Excel daily in both xls
and xlsx formats and have never had it crash. So, while there may indeed be
a problem with Office 2008, it is clearly (in my mind) related to your
configuration.

 

[Alan]

I've hadExcelcrash numerous times the first day using it. THe Auto Save feature does not seem to be working. Each time it crashes it brings back the old saved spreadsheet with none of the changes. Auto Save is set to 10 minutes and sometimes it had been hours and still reverted back to the old saved sheet and not the updated autosaved one.

Hi,

Is your excel file corrupt? If so, I think you can try a popular Excel
file recovery tool called Advanced Excel Repair to repair your Excel
file. It is a powerful tool to repair corrupt or damaged Excel files.

Detailed information about Advanced Excel Repair can be found at
http://www.datanumen.com/aer/

And you can also download a free demo version at http://www.datanumen.com/aer/aer.exe

Hope this will help.

Alan

 

[CyberTaz]

As you've been advised previously you're hawking your product in an
environment where it *can't* be used natively. If you ever develop a
Macintosh version please let us know.

In the meanwhile you are falsely as well as knowingly directing people to a
non-solution - a behavior which is both arrogant & deceptive.

 

[Foosh]

&gt; I've hadExcelcrash numerous times the first day using it. THe Auto Save feature does not seem to be working. Each time it crashes it brings back the old saved spreadsheet with none of the changes. Auto Save is set to 10 minutes and sometimes it had been hours and still reverted back to the old saved sheet and not the updated autosaved one.

Hi,

Is your excel file corrupt? If so, I think you can try a popular Excel
file recovery tool called Advanced Excel Repair to repair your Excel
file. It is a powerful tool to repair corrupt or damaged Excel files.

Detailed information about Advanced Excel Repair can be found at
<http://www.datanumen.com/aer/>

And you can also download a free demo version at <http://www.datanumen.com/aer/aer.exe>

Hope this will help.

Alan

I am using Excel in Office 2008 for Mac! This is not available for Macs!!!