Unable to open a 82 KB XLSM file due to "Too many different cellformats" & "Converter failed to open

P

Phillip Pi

Hello.

I received a 82 KB XLSM (macro version?) file from a colleague. I tried
to open it in my updated (as of last Tuesday) MS Office 2003 Pro. SP3,
with its compatibilty pack. Excel Office SP3 (v11.8302.8221 SP3) failed
to open it.

When opening it, I saw "File conversion in progress" dialog box for a
second, "Too many different cell formats" twice, and then "Converter
failed to open the file."

I asked another co-worker who had old Office 2003 (not updated) and the
compatbility pack. She got the same errors BUT was able to see the read
the contents unlike me.

I read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/213904 and it said there might be
too much 4,000 different combinations of cell formats: "This problem
occurs when the workbook contains more than approximately 4,000
different combinations of cell formats. A combination is defined as a
unique set of formatting elements that are applied to a cell. A
combination includes all font formatting (for example: typeface, font
size, italic, bold, and underline), borders (for example: location,
weight, and color), cell patterns, number formatting, alignment, and
cell protection."

I did find a way to open it. OpenOffice v3.0.1's Calc was able to open
and render it. It did get stuck for a minute when opening (not
responding too).

I can't share this file in public for security reasons. Thank you in
advance. :)
--
Phillip Pi
Senior Software Quality Assurance Analyst
Partner Engineering/Internet Service Provider/Symantec Online Services,
Consumer Business Unit
Symantec Corporation
www.symantec.com
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top