Problems with Office

[french frank]

Can you save an attached file without opening it?

If you can see the attachment icon, you can just drag and drop it anywhere, say your desktop.

[Anastasius]

Jean..you don't say if you have a PC or Mac although I suspect the former. On a Mac, you can right-click on a file and get prompted with 'Open with....' and a list of programs that the Mac knows should open your file. So, Excel would be there. Is there anything similar on a PC?

If you are on a Mac then I have noticed some anomalies with certain emails on Snow Leopard on my wifes' computer....some simply won't render properly or handle attachments correctly.

[jean]

It's a PC - I did say in #5. And I have got Excel. I can write excel files, and open any excel file except this one.

I finally got the Office activation code from the person who installed it, but on inserting it I'm told that is not the code for Office 2013. But I knew that. I have Office 2007. The problem was supposed to be that I didn't have Office at all, and the other people who can open the file only have Office 2007, just like me.

[johnb]

jean,

It might be a compatibility issue with Excel 2007. Microsoft have issued various compatibility packs that can be downloaded and which enable Office programs to read formats which aren't supported by default, e.g. files written by later versions of Excel, etc.

In order to understand what is happening it is important to know the "file type" of the Excel file that is giving you problems. The file type is the characters that follow the last "." in the filename, e.g. ".xlsx".

If you have received the Excel file via e-mail you should be able to see the full filename as an attachment to the e-mail. Can you please look and let us know the file type?

[jean]

The file in question is xls, and that's is the older version. Office 2007 can cope with xlsx files as well, as I have proved by sending some to myself, and opening them. So it's hard to see how there can be a problem.

But they're not even saying that the file is created by a later version of Office than the one I've got - they just tell me I haven't got Office at all. And when I tell them my activation code, they say 'that isn't Office 2013', which I never claimed it was.

[johnb]

jean,

Thanks for that information.

What happens if you save the file to a folder, then run Excel and open the file from within Excel 2007? If this works then it is very likely that the file association for xls files is set wrong (which should be easy to correct).

Note on file associations: Windows keeps a list of what programs are used to open different file types (e.g. mp3, flac, xls, etc, etc). Windows refers to this list when you open a file from, say, Windows Explorer by double clicking on it or when you open a file attachment from within your e-mail program. When you open a file from within Excel the "list" of file associations isn't used, of course.

If the file opens without any problems when opened from within Excel - which version of Windows are you using? I ask because it is likely there are differences in how you change the file associations in the different versions of Windows.

[Edit - deleted a couple of questions]

[jean]

I can neither open the attachment nor save it. When I click on the the button at the top of the email, I am given two choices: to open or save the attachment. Whichever one I click, I get the message You are trying to use Office and do not have Office.

I see that ff says

If you can see the attachment icon, you can just drag and drop it anywhere, say your desktop.

Does that offer another way round? I'm not sure how I would do that.

[Dave2002]

I see that ff says

If you can see the attachment icon, you can just drag and drop it anywhere, say your desktop.

Does that offer another way round? I'm not sure how I would do that.

That might depend on your mail system and its interface. Basically the process to try is to look for an icon for the file within the the email, click on it, then drag the icon out of the mail window on to your desktop. You'll need to make sure that your mail window does not cover the whole of the screen, so that part of the desktop is visible. This may not work for all mail clients. Alternatively try Copy and Paste on the icon - Click and CTRL-C over the icon in mail, then move mail out of the way or minimise it so you can see the desktop, move the cursor to a clear area of the desktop, then CTRL-V which should drop the icon onto the desktop, from where you should then be able to open the file with its associated application.

Are you using an inbuilt mail client, or web mail? There can be differences.

If you are getting a usable copy from your original sender then this might all now be becoming an intriguing/irritating (depending on your POV) exercise.

You sent the email to a friend who was able to open it. Could you ask that friend to send it back having saved it in a different Word format, and see if that opens on your system? So far it does sound to be a very specific (and curious) problem.

[MrGongGong]

This is easily solved in 10 minutes

1: Download and install Open Office (took 5 minutes last time I did it)
2: Open the file (30 seconds / 1 minute)
3: Save it as an excel file with a new name (4 minutes)

OR if all you want to do is read it, send it to someone who can open it and get them to send it to you as a pdf

Why waste time with faffing about with associations etc when there's the entire works of Sorabji to listen to?

[Dave2002]

This is easily solved in 10 minutes

1: Download and install Open Office (took 5 minutes last time I did it)
2: Open the file (30 seconds / 1 minute)
3: Save it as an excel file with a new name (4 minutes)

OR if all you want to do is read it, send it to someone who can open it and get them to send it to you as a pdf

Why waste time with faffing about with associations etc when there's the entire works of Sorabji to listen to?

Very reasonable suggestions.
Re Excel files to Open Office that doesn't always work and I have PMd you about that before - but 95% of the time it should. That *** MS company still managed to get money out of me on one occasion when it didn't work for me due to the urgency of the situation.

[MrGongGong]

Very reasonable suggestions.
Re Excel files to Open Office that doesn't always work and I have PMd you about that before - but 95% of the time it should. That *** MS company still managed to get money out of me on one occasion when it didn't work for me due to the urgency of the situation.

Indeed it doesn't always work
BUT this seems to be a singular exception, not something that is happening all the time and causing constant problems
so why waste time when there are simple solutions?

If the file isn't corrupted it should be very easy to find someone who CAN open it and make it readable etc

If you really are doing complex calculations with esoteric formulae on multiple linked sheets etc then you will probably know how to fix it anyway.

[jean]

1: Download and install Open Office...

I started to do this when you first suggested it, but up popped something whose name I did not recognise asked if it could modify my hard drive so I got scared and stopped.

I can see the file on other computers, but I do need to print it.

[Dave2002]

Indeed it doesn't always work

If you really are doing complex calculations with esoteric formulae on multiple linked sheets etc then you will probably know how to fix it anyway.

mrgg

We are broadly in agreement! Sometimes getting things done quickly - very quickly - overrides all other considerations, and with files sent/imposed externally then one doesn't have time to go in and fix them within other systems.

[MrGongGong]

I started to do this when you first suggested it, but up popped something whose name I did not recognise asked if it could modify my hard drive so I got scared and stopped.

I can see the file on other computers, but I do need to print it.

If that's all you need to do
send it to me (i'm stuck at home ill and bored) and i'll make it into a pdf, jpeg, word doc, sonata or anything else you would like and send it back (by post if you like)
it seems to be causing far too much trouble that could be easily fixed

(and I promise not to read it)

[Dave2002]

I started to do this when you first suggested it, but up popped something whose name I did not recognise asked if it could modify my hard drive so I got scared and stopped.
!
I can see the file on other computers, but I do need to print it.

Is it a big file? If not, display it on your screen and photograph it, then print the result!