XL97: MS Excel Hangs When You Programmatically Save a Workbook

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you save a workbook in Microsoft Excel 97, the program may appear to stop responding (hang), and the following symptoms may occur:

• The screen does not redraw properly.

      -and-
  

• You are unable to select cells, menus, toolbar buttons, or other controls.

      -and-
  

• Parts of message boxes and other windows remain on the screen on top of the Microsoft Excel window.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

• You run a Visual Basic for Applications macro that contains a command similar to the following:

        ActiveWorkbook.OnSave = "<Macro name>"
  

  where <Macro name> is the name of a macro.

      -and-
  

• The macro name you specify in the OnSave command contains the following Visual Basic macro code:

        Application.ScreenUpdating = False
  

      -and-
  

• The macro you specify in the OnSave command does not reset the ScreenUpdating property to True.

RESOLUTION

To prevent this problem from occurring, add the following code to all macros that you specify in the OnSave command:

   Application.ScreenUpdating = True

NOTE: When this behavior occurs, you must quit Microsoft Excel by pressing ALT+F4.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic for Applications procedures for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. The Visual Basic procedures in this article are provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in all situations. While Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular macro, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality, nor will they help you construct macros to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to consult one of the Microsoft Solution Providers. Solution Providers offer a wide range of fee-based services, including creating custom macros. For more information about Microsoft Solution Providers, call Microsoft Customer Information Service at (800) 426-9400.

In Microsoft Excel 7.0 and Microsoft Excel 97, you can use the OnSave property to specify a macro that runs after you initiate saving a workbook, and before Microsoft Excel saves the workbook.

Example of the Problem

The following example demonstrates the use of the OnSave property:

   Sub SetOnSaveTrigger()
       ActiveWorkbook.OnSave = "WorkbookSaving"
   End Sub

   Sub WorkbookSaving(Arg As Boolean)
       Application.ScreenUpdating = False
       MsgBox "Now saving file!"
   End Sub

Turning off Screen Updating

You can turn off screen updating while a macro runs by including the following line of code in the macro:

   Application.ScreenUpdating = False

When this behavior occurs, Microsoft Excel appears to stop responding (hang). However, the program is not "frozen." The program is not redrawn on the screen correctly, which prevents you from using any part of the program.

Example of the Resolution

To prevent the problem, enable screen updating by resetting the ScreenUpdating property to True before the end of the macro. For example, change the example in the "Example of the Problem" section to the following:

   Sub WorkbookSaving(Arg As Boolean)
      Application.ScreenUpdating = False
      MsgBox "Now saving file!"
      Application.ScreenUpdating = True
   End Sub