Excel File opened in Word (Excel 2002)

Topic

New Reply

We have some very inexperienced users here at our firm and this has happened a few times now. They are opening Excel files in Word, working on them and then saving them. Once that happens, you can no longer open the file in Excel. Is there any way to fix the Excel file instead of having to copy and paste from Word back to Excel where you lose a lot of formatting, formulas, etc.?

Reply | Quote

Replies

No, unfortunately. Restoring a recent backup is the only way to retrieve the original workbook.

Still, I find this strange, even for inexperienced users. When you try to open an Excel workbook in Word, you get a warning that it has to be opened using a converter; the default option in this dialog is the No button (meaning don’t open).
I you open the workbook anyway, then try to save it, you get a warning that the document will be saved in Word format, and again the default option is the No button (meaning don’t save).

Reply | Quote

Well I think we hold the record for the worst users.

Thanks for the reply. I figured that was the answer but was just double-checking to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

Reply | Quote

Hans

It may sound strange – but I report that my users also overwrite Excel files and have never quite got their heads around using Explorer to find files.

Microsoft has taken to issuing so many dire warnings that users are confused in many more places than just this.
For instance – try working with a csv in Excel and imagine what our beginner makes of the messages at exit time.

Reply | Quote