Openeing & Saving MSP2000 files with MSP2003

[Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo]

Guys,

I just installed MSP2003 and I now have the following problems. I have
posted before for a similar problem but this time the symptoms are different.
Her's what's happening: I open an existing MSP2000 file with MSP2003. I edit
the file. Then, when I want to save it I have the following message:

"The file cannot be opened"
* Check that the file name and path are correct.
* Check that the file format is recognized by Project.
Project files saved in a version earlier than Microsoft Project 98 can't be
opened.
If your file is from an earlier version, open it in that version, click ..."

I then close the file without saving, try to re-open and can't! The file
seems to be corrupted to the point that it can't be opened anymore & MSP2003
is generating a failure report that I do send. Helppppppppppppppppppp
!!!!!!!!!!!

Big_Bad

 

[Rod Gill]

What SP version is Project 2000 and 2003? I recommend you make sure that
both versions are patched then try again.

Does this happen with other Project 2000 files? With 2000 files from another
PC?

 

[Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo]

Hi Rod,

1st of all, sorry but you will have to educate me with your patches. What do
you mean? The versions of software that we work with are supplied by my
Company. For what I could see from the MSP Help (About MSP) dialog box the
versions would be as follow:
MSP2003 => SP1
MSP2000 => SR1

I also need to tell you the following. For the past 2 days I have
troubleshooted a few things and found:

My resource pool (165 resources in it) was 32M in size! As suggested in
earlier posting, I have redone the file (with MSP2003) completely (not a
copy) and the size came down to 758K!
We are sharing a common drive on a server.
As long as we work in the files BUT without being connected (i.e. the pool +
file) we can save our work. I then tried to work on an other server and did
not work either. Finally, I copied over 1 file + the pool on my local and did
not work either.
This problem started only when MSP2003 was introduced.
All the files were originally created with MSP2000 including the pool.
All users with MSP2000 have absolutely no problem.
Any MSP2003 user from his PC have the same problems.

Thank You Very Much for your great support

Regards,

Big_Bad

 

[JulieS]

Hi Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo,

Pardon me for jumping in.

In your original post the error message
"The file cannot be opened"
* Check that the file name and path are correct.
* Check that the file format is recognized by Project.
Project files saved in a version earlier than Microsoft Project 98 can't be
opened."

combined with the additional information that you trying to save a pool file
and are using Project 2003 with Service Pack 1 leads me to believe this is a
service pack problem. The error message above and the ability to save a pool
file in Project 2003 has been corrected with Service Pack 2 for MS Project
2003.

See the following Knowledge Base article for further information.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887620/

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

 

[Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo]

Hi Julie,

Thank You so much for your support. Finally! We seem to have an answer to
our problem. I have downloaded MSP 2003 Service Pack 2 on my machine BUT I
don't have an "administrator" profile so I can't execute the file for the
moment. I'm having our Help Desk to do so. As soon as I will able to test it,
I will let you know for sure. Again, Thank You very much guys. This is great!

Regards,

Big_Bad

 

[JulieS]

Hi Big_Bad...

You are most welcome for the assistance and thanks for the feedback.

Let us know how you make out with Service Pack 2 and the pool.

Julie

"Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

 

[Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo]

Hi Julie,

It has been a long time since we talked about this issue. Well, believe it
or not, the problems are still occuring once in a while. To make a long story
short, we finally had MSP2003 SP2 installed in several machines and still
encounter saving problems. The whole issue was then put in the hands of our
own Help Desk organization. While they are fighting as to know who will pay
for what, I was wondering if the Operating System version Vs MSP version
could be involved in this problem. This is our current situation:
Package 1: O/S Win 2000 Pro with MSP 2000
Package 2: O/S Win 2000 Pro with MSP 2003
Package 3: O/S Win XP with MSP 2003

Question: Can this "blend" of system & MSP version work together or not?

Regards,

Big_Bad

 

[JulieS]

Hi Big_Bad,

Nice to hear from you and I'm sorry to hear that you are still running
into issues with the pool file.

I don't see any issues with different operating systems (Package 2 & 3)
as the issue with pool files is a Project problem to the best of my
knowledge -- not an operating system problem. Package 1 will still
encounter the saving problem because of Project 2000.

I think a larger problem would be the question of why so many people are
opening the pool file and making changes to the pool. My recommendation
from a number of experiences with pool corruption is to designate 1 or 2
people to be the "keeper of the pool". Requests to add people, change
names, add vacations etc. should be coordinated through 1 or 2 people
who have a good understanding of the way MS Project operates.

I hope this helps.

Julie

"Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

 

[Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo]

Hi again Julie,

The problem is not with the resource pool as such. If you look at the
previous posts you will see that the saving problem we encounter is more
"complex" then what you are assuming. For the resource pool, I'm the only
owner and only I can make changes in that specific file. Initially, the
problem started when I was editing the file while someone else had his file
opened with the resource pool open as read-only. After making changes to
their file (with resource assignments) they would save & close their file
only to find out later that all previous work was not there anymore! At the
moment, we have removed the link between the pool and the files BUT we are
still experiencing saving problems with the files as a stand alone document.
An OS Win 2000 Pro with MSP2003 SP2 user will modify a file on a common
server and will not be able to save the work properly. The modified file is
normally "edited" with an OS Win XP with MSP2003 end user. That's why I have
sent you the previous post.

Regards,
Big_Bad (Sad)

 

[JulieS]

Hi Big_Bad...

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Just to clarify:

My understanding was you were getting a message similar to:
"The file cannot be opened"
* Check that the file name and path are correct.
* Check that the file format is recognized by Project.
Project files saved in a version earlier than Microsoft Project 98
can't be opened."

Is this occurring on project files that are not resource pool files or
sharer files connected to the pool?

Some clarification around using a resource pool and sharer files: when a
Project user opens their "sharer" file with the default option ("Open
resource pool read-only...."), makes changes and saves the "sharer"
file, usually Project prompts the user asking if they wish to update the
pool. If the user says "Yes" that user momentarily has write access to
the file and the changes (resource assignments, tracking data etc.) are
written to the pool file. If you or any other user had the pool file
open with write access, the original user with the sharer file, cannot
write to the pool file, therefore their edits are lost. The only way
for multiple people to be working with sharer files and a resource pool
is they all have "read-only" access to the pool file until they update.

The MSP 2003 SP2 user on Windows 2000 Professional - can he/she save any
non-pool or sharer project file on a network drive? If they create a
new project file, make changes and save -- does the error occur? Again,
the operating system should not be causing the problem. According to
the specifications for MSP 2003, it will run on Windows 2000 with SP3 or
Windows XP.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

"Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

 

[Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo]

Hi Julie,

To answer your 1st question: YES it is occuring on Project files that are
not resource pool & NO for sharer files connected to the pool.

We are starting to understand a few more things with your latest
explanations. Your clarification around using the resource pool DO explain
some of the problems we were having. In deed, I used to write the resource
pool while others were updating their file with the sharer pool open as
read-only and yes they were telling me that Project was telling them that
they could not update the resource pool.

After experiencing these saving problems, we removed the link between the
resource pool and the files working with already allocated resources and
adding "manually" missing ones when required. That fixes the saving problem
but obviously not the best practice to use MSP. So with above explanations
from you, I consider this problem fixed and we will change our working
policies to ALL work with read-only resource pool and perform resource pool
updates on specific time windows.

Still, with the files currently disconnected from the resource pool, opening
them (not the resource pool), editing & saving is an adventure. Most of the
times it works but sometimes, without warning and/or error messages, we save
the work without apparent problem, close the file, re-open later on (same or
next day) and the latest work is gone! Furthermore, if we open-save-close 2
times in a row, the file is completely corrupted to the point where we can't
open it anymore! We have to recall-it from our back-up system. We have no
explanation for that.

My only hope now resides with the OS SP version required with different MSP
version. Can you tell me or point me to a site that would tell me what SP
version is required as a minimum to work with the combos that we have:

Package 1: O/S Win 2000 Pro SP? + MSP 2000 SP?
Package 2: O/S Win 2000 Pro SP? + MSP 2003 SP?
Package 3: O/S Win XP SP? + MSP 2003 SP?

Once again, and hopefully for the last time on that issue, Thank You Very
Much for your time. I'm personaly getting tire with this issue so I can only
imagine how you guys can feel sometimes about all these issues that most of
the time are not!

Regards,
Big_Sad

 

[JulieS]

Hi Big_Bad Sad,

You're welcome and thanks for the feedback.

The link below is the system requirements for MS Project 200x.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/project/prodinfo/sysreq.mspx

A word of caution about your third paragraph. Working with the sharer
files disconnected from the pool and manually adding "missing ones" can
create some problems. If the sharer files are later re-connected to the
pool, you run the risk of duplicate resources. I worked with a client
who had two users who had not turned off the option "Automatically add
new resources and tasks" on the General tab of the Tools > Options
dialog box. As they were working in their sharer files, they typed in
new resources -- sometimes with some very creative spelling. When they
updated the pool, the "bad" resources kept getting added to the pool.
By the time two weeks had gone by, their pool file went from 270
resources to 1700+. Not a pretty site to clean up!

I hope the link showing system requirements helps you in the search
source of the problem and helps return you to just a Big, Bad Yellow
Eskimo from a Big Sad Yellow Eskimo.

Please let us know how you get along.

Julie

"Big_Bad_Yellow_Eskimo" <[email protected]>
wrote in message