Excel 3.0 Macro References to WK3 Files Fail in 4.0

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 4.0, 5.0
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, version 4.0

SUMMARY

A Microsoft Excel version 3.0 macro that references a Lotus WK3 file needs to be modified to work in Microsoft Excel versions 4.0 and later because of the way that WK3 files are opened in Microsoft Excel.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Excel versions 4.0 and 5.0, a WK3 file is opened as a Workbook and uses the naming convention [filename]ply letter. This means the macro call, for example, =ACTIVATE("TEST.WK3") activates the Workbook Contents page in Microsoft Excel version 4.0, instead of a worksheet file (ply).

In Microsoft Excel version 5.0, the macro call =ACTIVATE("TEST.WK3") activates the sheet that was last active in the workbook TEST.WK3, which may or may not be the desired sheet. You can modify a macro that references a WK3 file to utilize the new 3-D structuring provided by Microsoft Excel Workbooks.

This behavior is by design in Microsoft Excel 4.0 and 5.0. Macros that you created in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel can easily be modified to work correctly by changing the reference in the macro function call to reflect the Microsoft Excel Workbook naming conventions. For example, by changing =ACTIVATE("TEST.WK3") to =ACTIVATE("[TEST.WK3]A") your macro activates the top level ply of the WK3 file. For subsequent plies, change the letter A to the letter corresponding to the ply you want to activate or reference.