Error Opening Files with System 7.5 and MacLinkPlus

• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, version 5.0
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a
• Apple Macintosh System Software version 7.5

SYMPTOMS

On a Macintosh with System 7.5 and MacLinkPlus installed, you receive the following error message when you open a Microsoft Excel version 5.0 file by double-clicking the file in Finder:

   File was not created with the Application Microsoft Excel

You may encounter a problem, but no error message, if you click Open on the File menu to open a Microsoft Excel file.

A similar error message also appears when you open a Microsoft Word version 6.0 file by double-clicking the file in Finder.

CAUSE

If MacLinkPlus is installed, it is automatically linked to Macintosh Easy Open, a control panel from Apple, included with System 7.5. Macintosh Easy Open checks to see if the document that was opened from the Finder has an application associated with it.

MacLinkPlus comes with System 7.5, both on floppy disks and CD-ROM. The version of MacLinkPlus that comes with System 7.5 is 7.52.

This should not be a problem when you open files created in other applications, such as Microsoft Excel version 4.0, Microsoft Word version 5.0, or Microsoft Project 3.0.

WORKAROUNDS

To work around this problem, use any of the following methods.

Method 1:   Turn Macintosh Easy Open off by doing the following:

            a. From the Apple menu, choose Control Panels, and then choose
               Easy Open.

            b. For the Automatic Document Translation option, select
               Off.

            c. Close the Macintosh Easy Open dialog.

Method 2:   Use MacLinkPlus for Easy Open 7.52pl. You can obtain this
            version by contacting DataViz technical support at (203)
            268-0030. There is a $5 shipping and handling fee for this
            version.

Method 3:   Use MacLinkPlus version 8.0 or higher.

Method 4:   Turn off Macintosh EasyOpen via Extensions Manager.

STATUS

This problem occurs when you use Microsoft Excel version 5.0 or Microsoft Word 6.0 and MacLinkPlus version 7.52.

This problem was corrected in Microsoft Excel version 5.0a for the Macintosh.

MORE INFORMATION

Without Easy Open installed, whenever you double-click a file, your Macintosh tries to locate an application with a matching "signature". If there is one, the application is opened and attempts to open the file. If there isn't a matching "signature," you receive an error message telling you that the application could not be found, sometimes with an additional option to open the file using TeachText.

With Easy Open installed, every time you double-click a file, Easy Open searches certain resources located inside the application with a matching "signature" (if there is one) as well as Easy Open's translation components to insure that the application can, in fact, open that file.

Due to the sequence in which Easy Open searches, the combination of any version of Easy Open with Microsoft Excel 5.0 and MacLinkPlus for Easy Open version 7.5 (which is aware of Microsoft Excel 4.0 but not Microsoft Excel 5.0) causes Easy Open to think that Microsoft Excel 5.0 cannot open a Microsoft Excel 5.0 document.

This is not a problem with any of these individual applications; it is a problem with the way these components interact when they are not aware of each other.

MacLinkPlus is manufactured by DataViz Corporation, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.