XL7: User Name Changes When You Open/Save Shared Workbook

ID: Q132442


The information in this article applies to:


SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, when you share a workbook or open a shared workbook, you receive a User Identification dialog box with the following message:


   Welcome to the Shared List feature in Microsoft Excel.

   Please enter your name below so you can be identified to other users who
   are sharing workbooks with you: 


The name that appears in this dialog box is the name that was entered when Microsoft Excel was installed on this computer. If you enter another name in this dialog box, this new name appears in the User Name box on the General tab in the Options dialog box.


CAUSE

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel. When you share a workbook, or open a shared workbook for the first time, Microsoft Excel prompts you for the name that you want displayed as the name of the user that has this workbook open (on the Status tab in the Shared Lists dialog box). However, if you enter a name in the User Identification dialog box that is different from the name in the User Name box on the General tab in the Options dialog box, the name that you enter replaces the User Name value.



If you are using another person's computer, this may not be the desired behavior. The value in the User Name field is used as the default value in the Author box in the Properties dialog box for all new files created in Microsoft Excel.


RESOLUTION

To avoid changing the User Name in this copy of Microsoft Excel, accept the name that appears in the User Identification dialog box when you share a workbook or open a shared workbook for the first time.

To change the User Name value back to the original name, do the following:

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.


  2. Click the General tab.


  3. In the User Name box, enter the name that you want to be used as the default Author field value in all new files.


Note that once you enter a value in the User Identification dialog box, you are not prompted for this name again. After the first time you share a workbook or open a shared workbook, the name in the User Name box in the Options dialog box is used to identify who has the file open.

Additional query words:


Keywords          : xlwin 
Version           : 7.00
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : 

Last Reviewed: May 2, 1999