XL: MS Excel 4.0 Workbooks May Not Appear in Open Dialog Box

ID: Q177192

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In the versions of Microsoft Excel listed at the beginning of this article, if you click Open on the File menu, the dialog box does not display files that are saved in the Microsoft Excel 4.0 Workbook format.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if Microsoft Excel Files is selected in the "List Files of Type" box.

WORKAROUND

To display files that are saved in the Microsoft Excel 4.0 Workbook format, click either All Files or Readable Files in the "List Files of Type" box. You can then select and open Microsoft Excel 4.0 workbooks.

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

In Microsoft Excel, the "List Files of Type" box in the Open dialog box allows you to display only certain types of files. The file types that you can select and the files that are displayed for each type are listed in the following table.

   Selected file type   Files that are listed
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

   All Files            All files, including files that Microsoft Excel
                        cannot open

   Readable Files       All files can be opened by Microsoft Excel

   Microsoft Excel      All files with a creator type that indicates they
   Files                are Microsoft Excel files

   Text Files           All files with a creator type that indicates they
                        are text files

   Lotus 1-2-3 Files    All files with a creator type that indicates they
                        are Lotus 1-2-3 files

Even though Microsoft Excel 4.0 workbooks are Microsoft Excel files, their creator types do not match the creator types that are used by the Open dialog box in Microsoft Excel 5.0. Therefore, you must select either All Files or Readable Files if you want to display and open Microsoft Excel 4.0 workbooks.

Additional query words: XL5

Keywords          : xlloadsave 
Version           : MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: February 9, 1998