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  #1   Report Post  
Helen N.
 
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Default data changes unexpectedly

I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank, sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a state may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but still be a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created) but maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some files were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of the other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to be no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it in Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be saved fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?
  #2   Report Post  
Gord Dibben
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Helen

You sure you are opening the same file you just saved?

Do a file search and see if you have more than one version hanging around in
two different spots.

Any code involved with these files?

Any links to other files?

I have not had any file do this to me so have never had to trouble-shoot such
a phenomenon.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 15:35:05 -0800, "Helen N." <Helen
wrote:

I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank, sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a state may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but still be a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created) but maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some files were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of the other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to be no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it in Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be saved fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?


  #3   Report Post  
CLR
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Sounds like you may have multiple occurances of the same file and getting
the "wrong" one opened..............just try FILE SAVEAS, and re-naming
the file and see if the problem still occurs with the new name.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3


"Helen N." <Helen wrote in message
...
I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank, sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a state

may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but still be

a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created) but

maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some files

were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of the

other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am

running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to be no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it in

Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be saved

fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?



  #4   Report Post  
Helen N.
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Yes, I am opening the correct file. I even save them and do a save as with a
new name and check both. No code, no links, these have got to be the most
basic excel files ever. All general or number cells, just used for mail merge
purposes. This problem has been going on for months and months, when we had
Excel 97 and then when we had Excel 2003. All progams had and have all fixes
and patches, always up-to-date. I fear that some invisible macro came in on a
shared spreadsheet that we copied and pasted to ours because a coworker
mentioned the macro enable/disable choice a while ago, but said it had
"disappeared." That is where I fear a virus may have entered, but the scans
aren't catching anything. We didn't have this problem 9 months ago, but maybe
6 months ago it started. I wrote it off like you probably were thinking; user
error. But not anymore.

"Gord Dibben" wrote:

Helen

You sure you are opening the same file you just saved?

Do a file search and see if you have more than one version hanging around in
two different spots.

Any code involved with these files?

Any links to other files?

I have not had any file do this to me so have never had to trouble-shoot such
a phenomenon.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 15:35:05 -0800, "Helen N." <Helen
wrote:

I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank, sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a state may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but still be a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created) but maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some files were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of the other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to be no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it in Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be saved fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?



  #5   Report Post  
Helen N.
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Nope, see answer above.

"CLR" wrote:

Sounds like you may have multiple occurances of the same file and getting
the "wrong" one opened..............just try FILE SAVEAS, and re-naming
the file and see if the problem still occurs with the new name.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3


"Helen N." <Helen wrote in message
...
I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank, sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a state

may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but still be

a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created) but

maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some files

were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of the

other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am

running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to be no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it in

Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be saved

fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?






  #6   Report Post  
JulieD
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Helen

what about copying the data (select cells & choose copy not move or copy
sheet) to a new file and saving that? because this is seriously unusual
behaviour.

Cheers
JulieD



"Helen N." wrote in message
...
Nope, see answer above.

"CLR" wrote:

Sounds like you may have multiple occurances of the same file and getting
the "wrong" one opened..............just try FILE SAVEAS, and re-naming
the file and see if the problem still occurs with the new name.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3


"Helen N." <Helen wrote in message
...
I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank,
sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a state

may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but still
be

a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on
the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created) but

maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some files

were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and
pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to
the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of the

other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am

running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to be
no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have
tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it in

Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on
another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be saved

fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?






  #7   Report Post  
Helen N.
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Julie,

Oops, I should have included that in the first post with the cut and paste.
Been there, tried that. The only thing I am not sure of is if any file that
is created without copy/cut and paste, one where you hand enter everything,
has this problem, because I don't think we have any files like that. We have
resorted to creating the file and NEVER closing it until we mail merge. But
after that point, or if we need to reboot, all bets are off. Not a good way
to work.

"JulieD" wrote:

Hi Helen

what about copying the data (select cells & choose copy not move or copy
sheet) to a new file and saving that? because this is seriously unusual
behaviour.

Cheers
JulieD



"Helen N." wrote in message
...
Nope, see answer above.

"CLR" wrote:

Sounds like you may have multiple occurances of the same file and getting
the "wrong" one opened..............just try FILE SAVEAS, and re-naming
the file and see if the problem still occurs with the new name.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3


"Helen N." <Helen wrote in message
...
I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank,
sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a state
may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but still
be
a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on
the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created) but
maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some files
were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and
pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to
the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of the
other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am
running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to be
no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have
tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it in
Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on
another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be saved
fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?






  #8   Report Post  
JulieD
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Helen

if it's not confidential info, do you want to zip the file up and email it
direct to me as i've not come across behaviour like this before. My email
is julied_ng at hcts dot net dot au

Cheers
julieD

"Helen N." wrote in message
...
Hi Julie,

Oops, I should have included that in the first post with the cut and
paste.
Been there, tried that. The only thing I am not sure of is if any file
that
is created without copy/cut and paste, one where you hand enter
everything,
has this problem, because I don't think we have any files like that. We
have
resorted to creating the file and NEVER closing it until we mail merge.
But
after that point, or if we need to reboot, all bets are off. Not a good
way
to work.

"JulieD" wrote:

Hi Helen

what about copying the data (select cells & choose copy not move or copy
sheet) to a new file and saving that? because this is seriously unusual
behaviour.

Cheers
JulieD



"Helen N." wrote in message
...
Nope, see answer above.

"CLR" wrote:

Sounds like you may have multiple occurances of the same file and
getting
the "wrong" one opened..............just try FILE SAVEAS, and
re-naming
the file and see if the problem still occurs with the new name.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3


"Helen N." <Helen wrote in message
...
I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes
after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank,
sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a
state
may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but
still
be
a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on
the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created)
but
maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some
files
were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and
pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to
the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of
the
other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am
running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to
be
no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have
tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it
in
Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on
another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be
saved
fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will
be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?








  #9   Report Post  
Helen N.
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Sent the file. So small, it didn't even need zipping! Thanks, Julie

"JulieD" wrote:

Hi Helen

if it's not confidential info, do you want to zip the file up and email it
direct to me as i've not come across behaviour like this before. My email
is julied_ng at hcts dot net dot au

Cheers
julieD

"Helen N." wrote in message
...
Hi Julie,

Oops, I should have included that in the first post with the cut and
paste.
Been there, tried that. The only thing I am not sure of is if any file
that
is created without copy/cut and paste, one where you hand enter
everything,
has this problem, because I don't think we have any files like that. We
have
resorted to creating the file and NEVER closing it until we mail merge.
But
after that point, or if we need to reboot, all bets are off. Not a good
way
to work.

"JulieD" wrote:

Hi Helen

what about copying the data (select cells & choose copy not move or copy
sheet) to a new file and saving that? because this is seriously unusual
behaviour.

Cheers
JulieD



"Helen N." wrote in message
...
Nope, see answer above.

"CLR" wrote:

Sounds like you may have multiple occurances of the same file and
getting
the "wrong" one opened..............just try FILE SAVEAS, and
re-naming
the file and see if the problem still occurs with the new name.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3


"Helen N." <Helen wrote in message
...
I have several excel .xls files where the data changes sometimes
after
closing the file. Upon reopening it, cells are sometimes blank,
sometimes
different data, all data still relevant to the row header (like a
state
may
change from VA to NY or just be blank, a zip code may change but
still
be
a
zip code). The data seems to be whatever may have been originally on
the
spreadsheet (if we never had a NC state, a new one is not created)
but
maybe
the cells have shifted up or down, but there is no pattern. Some
files
were
created in Excel 97, some in Excel 2003. Most all from cutting and
pasting
from other spreadsheets that have numerous other originations due to
the
sharing of addresses for mailings, so I don't know the version of
the
other
Excel programs. All also have some hand entering and tweeking. I am
running
anti-virus updated software and all appears clear. There appears to
be
no
macros and there is no prompting to enable or disable macros. I have
tried
saving a spreadsheet as a .txt with tab delimited and reopening it
in
Excel
and then saving as .xls but the problem follows it. It happens on
another
computer running Excel XP using the same file. The changes can be
saved
fine,
but once closed and reopened, it is only guaranteed that there will
be
incorrect data somewhere. What to do?









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