Spreadsheet column width formatting doesn't Save

[rexv]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

My wife uses Excel a lot and is frustrated that when she has adjusted column WIDTH formatting and saves a spreadsheet, the next time she opens the sheet the columns have not been saved in the width she set them. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[macropod]

Hi rexv,

Are you sure your spouse is saving the file as an Excel workbook? If its saved in CSV format, for example, all formatting (incl
column widths) is lost.

 

[rexv]

Thanks, macropod --

Wish it were that simple, but these are xls sheets she's created and which are saving in the same format. We double checked for the possibility that the sheets were wrongly saved in CSV, but no. Column width seems to be the only problem. We're just kind of baffled.

rexv

 

[CyberTaz]

Are *other* changes to the file being retained? Is it just the one file or
does this happen with others as well? Does it happen with new files? What is
the origin of the problem file(s)? What file format is being used?

You'll also need to supply complete Office & OS X update levels as well as
any other details you can offer.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[rexv]

Bob --

Thanks for your interest. We'll try to answer your questions, but . . .

Today, when we opened the various files the column widths had saved properly from yesterday. Can't say why.

"Other" changes to the files have been and are saving properly.

This problem was happening with other files, not just one.

With but one data base sheet exception, the sheets are created new, updated and only accessed by my wife. She mostly uses financial sheets, but also has some data base types -- and they've all been having the same problem. The one exception to a fresh creation is a csv sheet which came by email from outside which my wife converted to xls and saved. It had the same column width problems on reloading.

The file format for all files is xls. Financial and data base files are in different books.

She's has been using Office 2008, Excel ver. 12.0.0 on her MacBook Pro running Leopard 10.5.7. Found her auto updater wasn't installed, so we've done that and updated to Excel12.1.7, but this was after checking to see if the sheets would load properly -- and, they did.

So, long and short. I think we must have had some kind of wrong setting that escapes our detection. If we have another occurrence of this problem we'll try to revive this thread.

Thanks again for your interest. Wish we knew what caused the problem and the fix.

rexv

 

[CyberTaz]

Thanks for the update - glad everything seems to be back to normal, but that
is a bit curious in itself I'd suggest that you also run Disk Utility -
Repair Disk Permissions. Whether that has any bearing on the prior issue &
prevent its recurrence I can't say, but it certainly can't hurt.

Additionally, the fact that she's using the .xls format is a bit puzzling...
I've not seen any suggestion that doing so might cause what appeared to be
happening but that isn't the default format used by Office 2008. Any time a
file is saved in a format other than its "own" there is an increased
possibility of error. The .xlsx format is far more stable & fully supportive
of 2008's capabilities so I'd suggest she take advantage of it. Even if
files have to be supplied to other users they should have no problem as long
as the recipient's Office software is updated or a copy can be saved in .xls
if there is a specific reason to do so.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[rexv]

Thanks for the advice, Bob!

We will follow thru.

Cheers!

rexv