files saved on Mac Excel 98 don't open correctly on Windows Excel

[Kevin1aB]

Hello,
I have Mac users running Excel 98 for Mac that save files to the fileserver
to be opened by MS users running Excel 2003. The columns that have dates
that look like:

10/24/2005 shows as ##### [thats five #'s no matter that the date was
originally] on MS Excel 2003 so I lost the dates for all the rows.

Everything else on the sheet looks normal.
Thanks in advance for any help /ideas.

Kevin
--

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Kevin-

I believe the problem stems from the fact that Mac & PC have always used a
different date system. I can't remember if XL 98 has a preference for
changing it or not, but take a look at (wayback machine don't fail me now)
Edit>Preferences and where the Calculation options are you should find a
setting for 1904 Date System.

Either turn that Off, or on the PCs go to Tools>Options>Calculation and turn
the 1904 Date System On.

HTH |:>)

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

The problem is due to the way fonts are displayed in Excel 2003. The
fonts provided in 2003 and 2004 are different than earlier versions.

Let's say you used Arial in Excel 98 (Mac) or 97 (Windows) and set the
column widths just right. Open the same document in 2003 and it's
possible that the new font is ever so slightly wider than the old one
and the date no longer fits when Excel tries to display it in the column.

The solution is to widen the columns just a little bit. Then your
workbooks will look right all the time.

-Jim