Why asking to save? did not change anything

[kevs1]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

I have an excel workbook. I open it. Excel ask if I want to save, but did not change anything at all. just opened it. why?

 

[Laroche J]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

I have an excel workbook. I open it. Excel ask if I want to save, but did not
change anything at all. just opened it. why?

You may have a formula related to an automatic date, such as =NOW().

JL
Mac OS X 10.4.11, Office v.X 10.1.9

 

[kevs1]

Larouche, you really reach for bizarre stuff.

That said, it's only happening with one specific workbook. What should I do?

 

[Laroche J]

Larouche, you really reach for bizarre stuff.

That said, it's only happening with one specific workbook. What should I do?

I assume that if there's an automatic date it's there for a purpose and
should probably not be removed. That being said, search for NOW if you don't
see where it is, it could be in a hidden cell.

JL
Mac OS X 10.4.11, Office v.X 10.1.9

 

[kevs1]

Don't understand what that mean search for Now. I'm not good with formulas. i'ts over my head. anyone else out there?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Don't understand what that mean search for Now. I'm not good with formulas.
i'ts over my head. anyone else out there?

Kevs, you will get this message every time the sheet is recalculated Even if
you did not change anything. Workbooks usually recalculate when they open.
If, somewhere in the sheet you have the formula =now() to show the current
date, this will mark the sheet as changed, thus giving you the message even
if you did not change anything.

 

[kevs1]

Bob, where do I find this out? I don't remember making a formula. How do I "see" where forumulas are?

 

[Laroche J]

Bob, where do I find this out? I don't remember making a formula. How do I
"see" where forumulas are?

Don't you know that almost every program has a Find function in the Edit
menu? Put the mouse pointer over Edit in the menu bar, click the mouse
button, go down to Find, click the mouse button, and in the box labeled Find
what, enter the word NOW and click on the Find Next button. If there's no
match repeat the process but search for the word TODAY. If any formula
contains one of these words, then the spreadsheet is automatically changed
every time you open it.

Another possibility is that a formula contains a link to another file where
some change has been done.

There's also the remote possibility that this file contains a macro that
makes a change to the spreadsheet during the opening process.

JL
Mac OS X 10.4.11, Office v.X 10.1.9

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Bob, where do I find this out? I don't remember making a formula. How do I
"see" where forumulas are?

Formulas are directly in the cells. Look for an equal sign as the first
character. Try pressing ctrl ` (That is hold down the control key and press
the key just above the TAB key.) That will toggle the display form the usual
display of cell values to cell formulas. Pressing it again, toggles it back.
Once it is in formula view mode, you can look around for cells starting with
an equal sign.

 

[kevs1]

Bob, Control Tilde (key abot the tab key) not doing anything. is there an easier menu controlled way to see the formulas?

 

[Laroche J]

Bob, Control Tilde (key abot the tab key) not doing anything. is there an
easier menu controlled way to see the formulas?

From Excel help:

Display formulas or formula results on a worksheet
1. On the Excel menu, click Preferences, and then click View.
2. To display formulas in cells, select the Formulas check box.
To display the formula results, clear the check box.


But it would be much simpler if you simply did a search for NOW or TODAY.

JL
Mac OS X 10.4.11, Office v.X 10.1.9

 

[kevs1]

JL,
I searched NOW, but that does not do anything except bring up where now shows up.
Changed preferences to show forumulas. Nothing showed.
This is not that important, only happening with this one file, still thought odd that open a file and the save botton is there.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

JL,
I searched NOW, but that does not do anything except bring up where now shows
up.
Changed preferences to show forumulas. Nothing showed.
This is not that important, only happening with this one file, still thought
odd that open a file and the save botton is there.

Kevs,

We have explained this several times. The sheet gets recalculated when it
opens. Since Excel recalculated it, it marks it as having been changed.
Thus, the save warning. If you know you did not change anything it is
perfectly safe to say NO, don't save changes.

I'm not even sure what the issue is any more. This is the way Excel works.
Learn it and get used to it.

 

[Laroche J]

I searched NOW, but that does not do anything except bring up where now shows
up.

EXACTLY! You were wondering why it was asking to save. It's because, as
you've just found out, there is a formula that contains the instruction
NOW(). This instruction puts the current (as in, at this very moment) date
and time in the cell each time there is a recalculation of the sheet, which
also happens when you open the file. Clear now?

Mac OS X 10.4.11, Office v.X 10.1.9

 

[kevs1]

Well, it's clear, if not a bit over my head. I get the Gist of it.
My questions, is there a quick something I can do to clear all forumulas so this issue is gone?

 

[Laroche J]

Well, it's clear, if not a bit over my head. I get the Gist of it.
My questions, is there a quick something I can do to clear all forumulas so
this issue is gone?

Kev, Kev, Kev,

Not only do I have the feeling you don't understand at all what have been
told you in this thread (and other threads) for the last two weeks, but I
really think you don¹t "get" Excel. You know, that's not simply a very
expensive pretty-grid maker, it's also a very powerful calculator that can
manage thousands of relationships between different cells of the numerous
sheets of a single file.

Each cell can either contain a pure value, or a formula that uses values
from other cells to calculate its own value. Formulas use basic operations
like addition and multiplication, and complex functions such as square root,
sine, amortization value or average.
Example: if in cell A2 the formula is =SQRT(A1), then A2 will show the
square root of the value being in cell A1, which is called the argument of
the function. Change the value in A1 and immediately the value shown in A2
will change. Of course another cell could use the value of cell A2 for its
own formula, which means that it, too, would show a different value when you
change the value of A1.

Functions NOW() and TODAY() are special in that they take their arguments
not from other cells, but from the operating system of the computer. They
report the date and time of the last calculation of the file.

When you make a change in ANY cell of the file, Excel recalculates every
formula of the workbook (the file). It also does so immediately after
opening the file. Which means that every time you open the file and every
time you make a change in a cell, the value of the cells having NOW() or
TODAY() in their formula will also change.

Excel and all other programs on Earth, being nice guys, are warning you when
you have made changes to a file and you've going to close it without saving
the changes you've made. A friendly reminder that you may be about to loose
a few minutes or hours of work.

Now, your file has a NOW() in one of its formulas. Why is it there? To
display the date the file has been modified, in all likelihood, like when
you make a store receipt for example. Can you live without it? It's up to
you to decide. I already told you how to find which cell contains this
function. Once you've found it, deal with it: erase it, use another
function, or learn to live with the fact that this particular file will
always give you this warning because the current date is absolutely
necessary for its operation.

JL
Mac OS X 10.4.11, Office v.X 10.1.9