WD98 Err Msg: "Object Is Not Responding..." Editing Word Object

• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you activate a Word document object that has been inserted into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (in Microsoft Excel, on the Insert menu click Object, and select Microsoft Word Document) you may receive the following error message

   The object is not responding because the source application may be busy.

   To check the source application, click Cancel, switch to the source
   application, and dismiss any open dialogs. Then try again.

   To continue waiting, click OK.

• In Word, you display a dialog box (for example, the Font dialog box).

  -and-

• While the dialog box is displayed, you switch back to Microsoft Excel.

Mac OS 8.0

In Macintosh OS 8.0, if you click the Finder, you will eventually be able to switch back to Word to close the dialog box.

Versions of Macintosh System Software Earlier Than 8.0

If you are using a version of Macintosh Software earlier than 8.0, clicking Cancel or OK does not allow you to switch back to Word to close the open dialog box. In this case, Microsoft Excel may appear to hang.

CAUSE

Microsoft Excel is waiting for a response from Word. Because a dialog box is being displayed in Word, Word cannot respond.

RESOLUTION

To prevent this problem from occurring, do not switch to another program while editing an object that has a dialog box displayed.

Close the dialog box before switching to the program containing the object.

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.