XL: Error Opening File That Refers to Shortcut

• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, when you open a workbook that contains a reference to a shortcut to a workbook, one of the following symptoms occurs:

• If the workbook that you open contains the defined name "Auto_Open" that refers to a macro in the shortcut to the workbook, you receive the following error message

        Cannot find '<filename>'!<macro>, which has been assigned to run each
        time [<book>] is opened. Continuing could cause errors. Cancel
        opening [<book>]?
  

  where <filename> is the name of the shortcut to the workbook that contains your macro, <macro> is the name of the macro you want to run automatically, <book> is the name of the workbook that you are opening that contains the Auto_Open defined name.

• If the workbook that you open contains a link to a cell in the shortcut to the workbook, the File Not Found dialog box appears (if you choose to reestablish the link).

CAUSE

In Microsoft Windows 95, you can create a shortcut to any program, document, or printer, and put this shortcut in any folder or on the desktop. This makes it easy to access the objects that you use most frequently. However, if you create a link or reference to a shortcut to a workbook in a Microsoft Excel workbook, the above behavior occurs because Microsoft Excel does not recognize the workbook that the shortcut refers to.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, create the link or reference to the original workbook instead of to a shortcut to the workbook.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

REFERENCES

For more information about creating and using a shortcut in Microsoft Windows, click the Index tab in Windows Help, type the following text

   shortcuts, about