XL5: "Unable To Read File" Opening File with Pivot Table

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 5.0

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, when you create a pivot table, and you clear the Save Data With Table Layout check box, if you then move or copy the worksheet that contains the pivot table to another workbook, you receive the following error message when you close and then open the second workbook again:

   Unable to read file

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when you do not refresh the data in the pivot table that was copied or moved from the original workbook. When you open a file that contains a pivot table, where the pivot table data was not saved with the table layout, the data cache is not valid until you refresh the data.

If you copy or move the pivot table to another workbook, and you then save and close that workbook without refreshing the data either before or after the copy/move, the data cannot be read when you open the workbook again.

WORKAROUNDS

To avoid this problem, do any of the following:

• Before you save and close the workbook that contains the pivot table that you moved or copied, select a cell in the pivot table, and choose Refresh Data from the Data menu.

  -or-

• Before you copy or move the worksheet that contains the pivot table, select a cell in the pivot table, and choose Refresh Data from the Data menu.

  -or-

• When you create the pivot table, select the Save Data With Table Layout check box.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in version 5.0c of Microsoft Excel.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q104308
   TITLE     : XL5: Optimizing Pivot Table Performance

REFERENCES

For Tips For Working With Pivot Tables, choose the Search button in Help and type:

    pivot tables