office 2004 (excel & word) afp file path issue on tiger server (10.4.9)

[schagemann]

g'day,

we have just changed over to an xserve (running 10.4.9, HFS+ with
ACLs) and are experiencing the following problem with office 2004
excel & word files only - surprisingly powerpoint files are not
affected:

all excel and word files without spaces in either file- path or -name
open just fine, however all files with spaces in file-path or -name
generate the following error message...

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/daniel.schagemann/posts/EXCEL_1.png"
alt="excel error message" />

for the above we used the following example file:
-rwxr--r-- 1 daniel daniel 59904 May 17 16:40 IT Schedules.xls

and it gets slightly more confusing if we place the file used above in
another sharepoint called scans (which is setup in exactly the same
way) the file opens just fine... with or without spaces in its
filepath?

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/daniel.schagemann/posts/EXCEL_2.png"
alt="excel filepath display" />

we have also noticed that strangely the complete file-path is being
displayed in files that do open (because we have filled in the
blanks... ;0) - something we had not seen before.

any ideas on what could cause this or advice on how we could get back
to opening our mainly excel and word files straight from the server
without having to change our folder structure would be greatly
appreciated.

thanks in advance,

ds.

 

[William Smith]

we have just changed over to an xserve (running 10.4.9, HFS+ with
ACLs) and are experiencing the following problem with office 2004
excel & word files only - surprisingly powerpoint files are not
affected:

all excel and word files without spaces in either file- path or -name
open just fine, however all files with spaces in file-path or -name
generate the following error message...

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/daniel.schagemann/posts/EXCEL_1.png"
alt="excel error message" />

for the above we used the following example file:
-rwxr--r-- 1 daniel daniel 59904 May 17 16:40 IT Schedules.xls

and it gets slightly more confusing if we place the file used above in
another sharepoint called scans (which is setup in exactly the same
way) the file opens just fine... with or without spaces in its
filepath?

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/daniel.schagemann/posts/EXCEL_2.png"
alt="excel filepath display" />

we have also noticed that strangely the complete file-path is being
displayed in files that do open (because we have filled in the
blanks... ;0) - something we had not seen before.

any ideas on what could cause this or advice on how we could get back
to opening our mainly excel and word files straight from the server
without having to change our folder structure would be greatly
appreciated.

Very odd problem. Are you connecting to the server via AFP or SMB? I
would assume AFP since this is an Apple server.

Can you provide an example of one of the problem paths? Preferably, open
the Terminal application and drag an Excel file from the server into the
window. This will provide the full path in one long string. (Don't worry
about the backslash characters before certain characters and spaces.
These are normal.)

bill

 

[don't panic]

Very odd problem. Are you connecting to the server via AFP or SMB? I
would assume AFP since this is an Apple server.

Can you provide an example of one of the problem paths? Preferably, open
the Terminal application and drag an Excel file from the server into the
window. This will provide the full path in one long string. (Don't worry
about the backslash characters before certain characters and spaces.
These are normal.)

bill

yes we are using afp to connect - was planning to check the smb part
on the weekend once everyone is gone.

here the filepaths:

working:
/Volumes/file/Administration/IT/Schedules/TEST_without_spaces.xls

not working:
/Volumes/file/Administration/IT/Schedules/TEST\ with\ spaces.xls

exactly the same file with same permissions.

thanks, daniel.

 

[William Smith]

yes we are using afp to connect - was planning to check the smb part
on the weekend once everyone is gone.

here the filepaths:

working:
/Volumes/file/Administration/IT/Schedules/TEST_without_spaces.xls

not working:
/Volumes/file/Administration/IT/Schedules/TEST\ with\ spaces.xls

exactly the same file with same permissions.

Hi daniel!

So "file" is the name of your Mac volume that gets mounted on the user's
Desktop, correct? I wonder if this is causing the problem. It shouldn't
but possibly something in the way Office reads files uses some sort of
"file" denominator.

During your testing this weekend can you change this to "Files" instead
of "file" and see if this makes a difference? If so then you've found an
interesting bug that should be reproducible elsewhere.

bill

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Daniel:

I "hope" your file name does not include any slashes, either forward "/" or
back "\"

If it does, that's the problem. Microsoft Office recognizes the forward and
back slash as equivalent in file names, which enables it to support web
paths in documents.

Cheers

yes we are using afp to connect - was planning to check the smb part
on the weekend once everyone is gone.

here the filepaths:

working:
/Volumes/file/Administration/IT/Schedules/TEST_without_spaces.xls

not working:
/Volumes/file/Administration/IT/Schedules/TEST\ with\ spaces.xls

exactly the same file with same permissions.

thanks, daniel.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[don't panic]

Hi daniel!

So "file" is the name of your Mac volume that gets mounted on the user's
Desktop, correct? I wonder if this is causing the problem. It shouldn't
but possibly something in the way Office reads files uses some sort of
"file" denominator.

During your testing this weekend can you change this to "Files" instead
of "file" and see if this makes a difference? If so then you've found an
interesting bug that should be reproducible elsewhere.

bill

bill

well that did the trick... we simply renamed the sharepoint from
"file" to "files" and it now works as it should.

i suppose we should file an official bugreport about this issue
somewhere?
however, i could not find where to submit such a report - bill, since
you seem somehow affiliated with MS could you please advise on how to
proceed?

anyway, thanks a lot for your help - not sure if we would have thought
about such a simple solution!

daniel.

 

[don't panic]

Hi Daniel:

I "hope" your file name does not include any slashes, either forward "/" or
back "\"

If it does, that's the problem. Microsoft Office recognizes the forward and
back slash as equivalent in file names, which enables it to support web
paths in documents.

Cheers

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

john,

thanks for your suggestion. and no, we did not use slashes (of either
direction) in our file names - and would dream of doing so. but
definitely a tip worthwile knowing about.

please see my other post for the solution to the problem.

take care, daniel.