Refresh data gives "unable to connect" error

[RNW]

Using Visio Pro 2007 demo version and 2007 Excel. Making flowchart with data
linked to Excel document. When I close Visio and reopen, the link to
datasheet is gone. When I try to refresh, I get "unable to connect." (No, the
Excel document is not open.) If I recreate the connection and relink the
data, the same thing happens when I close and reopen the document. Arg. How
do I keep it linked?

 

[AlEdlund]

it might be a restriction on the demo version....
al

 

[RNW]

Per an email I read in Google Groups about this issue, I deleted unused rows
and columns from my Excel document and resaved it. Now it seems to work. It's
not a very large spreadsheet... Is there some sort of limit to how large an
Excel document that Visio can link to? Or are there any specific characters
it doesn't like? This is going to be a problem as my spreadsheet is updated
and the Visio drawings are refreshed.

 

[AlEdlund]

special characters in general should not be used in field names. The
underscore although semi-valid should not be the first character (an
undocument feature).