XL: Can't Link to Worksheet with Exclamation Point in Name

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

If you link information from a Microsoft Excel worksheet to a client program when the worksheet name contains an exclamation point (!), one of the following problems may occur:

• You receive an error message in the client program.
• The information appears in the client program, but the link cannot be edited or updated.

WORKAROUND

To avoid this behavior when you link information from a Microsoft Excel worksheet to a client program, make sure the worksheet name does not contain an exclamation point. To rename a worksheet in a Microsoft Excel workbook, point to Sheet on the Format menu, and click Rename on the submenu.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Word for Windows

If you copy information from a worksheet when the name contains an exclamation point and click Paste Special in a document in Microsoft Word, the following options are available in the As list:

   Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object
   Formatted Text (RTF)
   Unformatted Text
   Picture
   Bitmap (Windows version only)

   Word cannot obtain the data for the Microsoft Excel Worksheet link.

In Microsoft Excel 97, selecting any of the options in the Paste Special Dialog Box and clicking Paste Link in Word 97, the following error message appears:

   Word cannot obtain the data for the Microsoft Excel Worksheet link.

Microsoft Write (Windows Only)

If you copy information from a worksheet when the name contains an exclamation point, and click Paste Special in a document in Microsoft Write, the following options are available in the Data Type list:

   Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object
   Picture
   Bitmap
   Text

If you click any of the other options and click Paste Link, the information appears in the Microsoft Write document. However, the information is not updated when you change the source information. When you edit the link in Microsoft Write, you receive the following error messages:

   Linked document is unavailable.

   The source document cannot be found.

   Make sure that the object still exists in the source document, the
   link is uncorrupted, and the source document is still available
   (that is, it has not been deleted, moved, or renamed).