Cell Formatting Lost When Saving

[Guest]

I save a workbook with workbooks(<filename>).close savechanges := TRUE and
any cell formatting is lost. I've traced the circumstances to the version of
Excel the original <filename> was created in. If the file was version 4.0
formatting is lost (even if it's been subsequently saved as the 'latest Excel
version') otherwise it's OK. Given that I can have no influence on the Excel
version of the original file is there anyway of saving my formatting changes
(I'm only interesting in the colorindex). Also how can I tell what the
original Excel version was from within VB (or elsewhere) - The above applies
to XP, NT and windows 2000. I'm using office 2000 in all cases. Thanks.

 

[Peter T]

Not sure if this is related but I've come across some curious problems
linked to the difference in default palettes in pre XL97 and XL97 on.

By chance, if you format a colour to orange (right of red on the palette),
does it come back a sort of brown after save / close / reopen.

Regards,
Peter

 

[Guest]

Thanks for taking an interest! If I save as the "latest version" then orange
remains orange - But if I save as the old format orange is changed to yellow
when I reopen. Do you happen to know how to get the excel version a file was
created in ?

 

[Peter T]

Slightly curious, the reason I would have expected the orange > brown change
is these are the default colours of color-index 45 in "old" and "new"
palettes respectively. Possibly the palette has been customized, or there is
another "old" palette I've forgotten about.

You might be able to return the file version like this:

Sub GetFileFormat()
Dim ff, aver, v
ff = ActiveWorkbook.FileFormat
aver = Array(xlExcel2, xlExcel3, xlExcel4, _
xlExcel5, xlExcel7, xlExcel9795)

On Error Resume Next

v = Application.WorksheetFunction.Match(ff, aver, 0)
If Err.Number > 0 Then
v = "Later than Excel 97"
Else
v = Choose(v, "xlExcel2", "xlExcel3", "xlExcel4", _
"xlExcel5", "xlExcel7", "xlExcel9795")
End If

MsgBox ff & " : " & v, , ActiveWorkbook.Name
End Sub

Couple of things to try:

Reset the palette (tools / options / color)
Save / close / reopen
Maybe do this a few times, might not work first time, if at all

Save the file like this:
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:="MyName.xls", FileFormat:= xlExcel9795

FWIW, I don't think your formats are changing even though it looks that way,
but the default palette displays different colours in different versions
(from memory 19 out of the 56 are different).

I'd be interested in your feedback.

Regards,
Peter

 

[Peter T]

Instead of resetting the palette manually, could you run this macro the
first time, then manually. I'd be interested to know if it errors.

Sub ColorsReset()
On Error Resume Next
ActiveWorkbook.ResetColors
MsgBox "Error: " & Err.Number
End Sub

Error 0 means no error

Regards,
Peter

 

[Peter T]

Instead of resetting the palette manually, could you run this macro the
first time, then manually. I'd be interested to know if it errors.

Sub ColorsReset()
On Error Resume Next
ActiveWorkbook.ResetColors
MsgBox "Error: " & Err.Number
End Sub

Error 0 means no error

Regards,
Peter

 

[Guest]

I used light orange yesterday sorry. Choosing orange and saving as V4.0
actually changes the orange to red. Running the colorsreset macro first makes
no difference to this. The macro message returns 0.

I'd actually found the FileFormat parameter just before I saw your reply - I
used xlworkbooknormal and explicitly xlexcel4 but with no luck in saving
formatting changes. Just tried xlExcel9795 too - again no luck.

Happily the people who generate the input file can change to xlExcel5 and
this works fine. Thanks for the version macro - works fine - and for all your
efforts.