Microsoft Excel File Format

Microsoft Office Technical Documentation Group

Created: November, 1995

Click to open or copy the BIFFVIEW project files

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The binary interchange file format (BIFF) is the file format in which Microsoft Excel workbooks are saved on disk. Microsoft Excel versions 5.0 and later use compound files; this is the OLE 2 implementation of the Structured Storage Model standard. For more information on this technology, see the OLE 2 Programmer's Reference, Volume One, and Inside OLE 2, both published by Microsoft Press® and available from your local bookstore.

File Format Versions: BIFF5 and BIFF7

The BIFF7 file format of Microsoft Excel version 7.0 is nearly identical to the BIFF5 file format of Microsoft Excel version 5.0. There are some new records in BIFF7 and some records that have changed from BIFF5. This article documents both the BIFF5 and BIFF7 file formats.

The following tables describe the new records and changed records in BIFF7. For more information on the new and changed records, see the appropriate record description, later in this article.

New Records in BIFF7

Changed Records in BIFF7

There are also several new streams in the BIFF7 file. The User Names and Revision Log streams support the new shared list feature in Microsoft Excel 7.0. The binary format of these streams is not documented.

The DocumentSummaryInformation (new to BIFF7) and SummaryInformation streams support the document properties available in Microsoft Excel 7.0, which are standardized across the Office 95 family of applications.

The Workbook Compound File

An OLE 2 compound file is essentially "a file system within a file." The compound file contains a hierarchical system of storages and streams. A storage is analogous to a directory, and a stream is analogous to a file in a directory. Each Microsoft Excel workbook is stored in a compound file, an example of which is shown in the following illustration. This file is a workbook that contains three sheets: a worksheet with a PivotTable, a Visual Basic module, and a chart.

If a workbook contains embedded objects, then the file will also contain storages written by the applications that created the objects. The PivotTable data cache storage and VBA PROJECT storage are not documented. The CompObj stream contains OLE 2 component object data, and the Summary Info stream contains the standardized file summary information such as title, subject, author, and so on.

The Book stream begins with a BOF record, and then contains workbook global records up to the first EOF. The workbook global section contains one BOUNDSHEET record for each sheet in the workbook. You can use the dt field (document type), the lbPlyPos field (stream position of the BOF record for the sheet), and the cch/rgch fields (sheet name as a byte-counted string) to quickly read selected sheets in the workbook.

Each sheet in the workbook is stored after the workbook global section, beginning with BOF and ending with EOF. If you read the file in a continuous stream (instead of using the BOUNDSHEET records), you can test the dt field of each BOF record to determine the sheet type.

Simple Save (New for BIFF7)

Microsoft Excel 7.0, uses a new simple save method from OLE 2, which was developed to increase performance. If a workbook contains no Visual Basic modules, no PivotTables, and no embedded objects on worksheets, then Microsoft Excel uses the simple save method.

When Microsoft Excel 7.0 saves a workbook using simple save, the streams in the file must be at least 4kbytes long. The OLE 2 code adds padding bytes to the streams to ensure that they are at least 4kbytes long. If you use a low-level binary viewer to examine the resulting file, you will see the padding bytes appearing as "garbage" at the end of the streams.

To find the actual end of the Book stream, you can increment a counter every time you read a BOF record and then decrement it every time you read an EOF record. When the counter reaches zero, then you have read the last EOF in the Book stream and you can ignore the rest of the bytes in that stream.

Other Microsoft Excel File Formats

Although chart records are written as part of the Book stream, they are documented in another article. Microsoft Excel creates several other files, some of which are documented. The workspace file is documented in a separate article. The toolbar file (.XLB extension in Microsoft Windows) is not documented.

This article contains BIFF documentation for Microsoft Excel versions 5.0 and 7.0 only. Earlier versions of BIFF documentation are available on the Development Library (published by the Microsoft Developer Network). The Library is a CD-based reference source for Windows-based developers. For more information about this service, contact Microsoft Developer Network via email (devnetwk@microsoft.com), via Compuserve (>INTERNET:devnetwk@microsoft.com), or call (800) 759-5474.

BIFF Record Information

Although different BIFF record types contain different information, every record has the same basic format. All BIFF records consist of the following three sections:

Record Number

This 16-bit word identifies the record. The hexadecimal value of the record number is included in parentheses in the heading of the record description. For example, the EOF record's heading appears in this article as "EOF: End of File (0Ah)."

Record Data Length

This 16-bit word equals the length of the following record data, in bytes. The record length depends on the type of data in the record. For example, the EOF record is always the same length, while a FORMULA record varies in length depending on the length of the formula itself.

Record Data

This is the portion of the record containing the actual data that describes the formula, window, object, and so on.

The format for all BIFF records is described in the following table.

A BIFF record has a length limit of 2084 bytes, including the record type and record length fields. Therefore, the record data field must be no longer than 2080 bytes. A large data object has a parent record and then one or more CONTINUE records to store the data. For example, embedded bitmap graphic objects often use a parent IMDATA record and several CONTINUE records.

If a field (or a bit in a field) is marked "Reserved," then your application should treat the field or bit as a "don't-care" when you read or write the BIFF file. If a field (or bit in a field) is marked "Reserved; must be zero," then you must write zeros to the field or bit when you write a BIFF file.

Byte Swapping

Microsoft Excel BIFF files are transportable across the MS-DOS/Windows (Intel® 80x86), and Apple Macintosh (Motorola® 680x0) operating systems, among others. To support transportability, Microsoft Excel writes BIFF files in the 80x86 format, where the low-order byte of the word appears first in the file, followed by the high-order byte. For example, the BOF record consists of six 16-bit words:

0809 0008 0500 0005 096C 07C9

and it appears in a BIFF file as:

09 08 08 00 00 05 05 00 6C 09 C9 07

Whenever Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh reads or writes a BIFF file, it calls a function that swaps the high- and low-order bytes of every 16-bit word in every record in the file. For 32-bit longs, the bytes in each 16-bit word are swapped first, and then the two 16-bit words are swapped. Be sure to include a byte-swap function in any custom BIFF utility you write for the Macintosh.

BIFF Versions

You can determine the BIFF version (and infer the Microsoft Excel version that wrote the file) by testing the high-order byte of the record number of the BOF record. For example, the first BOF record in a BIFF5/BIFF7 workbook file is:

09 08 08 00 00 05 05 00 6C 09 C9 07 (08h in high-order byte)

while the BOF record in a BIFF4 chart file is:

09 04 06 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 (04h in high-order byte)

In BIFF4 and earlier, some records (other than the BOF record) contained version information in the high-order byte of their record numbers. This proved to be redundant, so for BIFF5 and later, Microsoft Excel determines the BIFF version by reading the high-order byte of the record number of the BOF record.

Beginning with this version of the Microsoft Excel Developer's Kit, record numbers are documented as full 16-bit numbers instead of 8-bit numbers with a high-order version number byte. For example, the DIMENSIONS record is now documented as record number 200h instead of 00h. This causes the records to appear in a different order in the following table, "BIFF Records: Record Number Order."

Indexing in BIFF Records

In BIFF files, rows and columns are always stored zero-based, rather than with an offset of one as they appear in a sheet. For example, cell A1 is stored as row 0 (rw = 00h), column 0 (col = 00h); cell B3 is row 2 (rw = 02h), column 1 (col = 01h), and so on.

In most cases, you can use the variable-naming conventions in this article to determine if a variable is zero-based. Variable names that begin with the letter i are usually indexes, which are zero-based. For example, the variable ixfe occurs in every cell record; it is a zero-based index into the table of XF records. Variable names that begin with the letter c are usually counts, which are one-based. For example, many records contain a cch, which is a count of characters in the following string.

Undefined Cells in the Sheet

To reduce file size, cells that don't contain values or formulas and aren't referenced by formulas in any other cell are considered to be undefined cells. Such undefined cells don't appear in the BIFF file.

For example, if a worksheet has a value in cell A3, and the formula =A3+A4 in cell B10, then the only defined cells on the worksheet are A3, A4, and B10. No other cells need to exist.

Using this technique, entire rows can be undefined if they have no defined cells in them. In the preceding example, only rows 3, 4, and 10 are defined, so the file contains only three ROW records.

Cell Records

The term "cell records" refers to the BIFF record types that actually contain cell data. Cell records that appear in BIFF5/BIFF7 files are shown in the following table.

Microsoft Excel stores cell records in blocks that have at most 32 rows. Each row that contains cell records has a corresponding ROW record in the block, and each block contains a DBCELL record at the end of the block. For more information about row blocks and about optimizing your code when searching for cell records, see Finding Cell Records in BIFF Files.

BIFF Record Order

BIFF record order has changed as the file format has evolved. The simplest way to determine BIFF record order is to create a workbook in Microsoft Excel and then use the BiffView utility to examine the record order.

BIFF Utilities

There are two BIFF utilities in the Microsoft Solutions Development Kit. Use the BiffView utility (BIFFVIEW.EXE, a Windows program) to examine BIFF5/BIFF7 workbook files. Use DUMPBIFF.EXE (an MS-DOS program) to examine the BIFF5/BIFF7 workspace file.

BIFF Records: Alphabetical Order

BIFF Records: Record Number Order

Record Descriptions

The first two fields in every BIFF record are record number and record length. Because these fields have the same offset and size in every BIFF record, they're not documented in the following descriptions. For more information about the record number and record length fields, see BIFF Record Information.

1904: 1904 Date System (22h)

The 1904 record stores the date system used by Microsoft Excel.

Record Data

ADDIN: Workbook Is an Add-in Macro (87h)

This record has no record data field. If the ADDIN record is present in the BIFF file, it signifies that the macro is an add-in macro. The ADDIN record, if present, must immediately follow the first BOF record in the Book stream.

ADDMENU: Menu Addition (C2h)

The ADDMENU record stores a menu addition. When you add a menu object (a menu bar, a menu, a menu item, or a submenu item) to the user interface, Microsoft Excel writes a group of ADDMENU records for each object. The first record stores the menu bar, the second stores the menu, the third stores the menu item, and the fourth stores the submenu item (note how this is identical to the menu hierarchy in the user interface). The number of records in the group depends on the level of the menu structure at which the addition occurs. For example, adding a menu to a menu bar causes two ADDMENU records to be written. Adding a submenu item to a menu item causes four records to be written.

If fInsert is true (equal to 01h), the menu object is added at this level of the hierarchy. For example, if fInsert is true in the second ADDMENU record of the group, Microsoft Excel adds a new menu to an existing menu bar. If fInsert is false (equal to 00h), the record is a placeholder, and one of the following ADDMENU records in the group will define the menu addition.

For menu items and submenu items, the icetab field stores the index to the added command, if the item is attached to a built-in command. The icetabBefore field stores the index to the command before which the new command is added. If either of these indexes equals FFFFh, the corresponding string from the rgch field is used instead of a built-in command.

The caitm field is equal to the number of following ADDMENU records that are to be inserted at this level of the menu hierarchy.

Record Data

The rgch field stores five concatenated strings, as described in the following table. Null strings will appear in the rgch field as a single byte (00h).

ARRAY: Array-Entered Formula (221h)

An ARRAY record describes a formula that was array-entered into a range of cells. The range of cells in which the array is entered is defined by the rwFirst, rwLast, colFirst, and colLast fields.

The ARRAY record occurs directly after the FORMULA record for the cell in the upper-left corner of the array — that is, the cell defined by the rwFirst and colFirst fields.

The parsed expression is the array formula, stored in the Microsoft Excel internal format. For an explanation of the parsed format, see Microsoft Excel Formulas.

Record Data

You should ignore the chn field when you read the BIFF file. If you write a BIFF file, the chn field must be 00000000h.

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

AUTOFILTER: AutoFilter Data (9Eh) (Changed for BIFF7)

This record stores data for an active AutoFilter.

Record Data—BIFF5

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

Record Data—BIFF7

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

DOPER Structures—BIFF5 and BIFF7

The database oper structures (DOPERs) are 10-byte parsed definitions of the filter conditions that appear in the Custom AutoFilter dialog box. The DOPER structures are defined in the following sections.

DOPER Structure for RK Numbers (vt = 02h)

DOPER Structure for IEEE Floating-Point Numbers (vt = 04h)

DOPER Structure for Strings (vt = 06h)

DOPER Structure for Boolean and Error Values (vt = 08h)

The bBoolErr field contains the Boolean or error value, as determined by the fError field. If the fError field contains a 0 (zero), the bBoolErr field contains a Boolean value; if the fError field contains a 1, the bBoolErr field contains an error value.

Boolean values are 1 for true and 0 for false.

Error values are listed in the following table.

The vt field contains the data type of the DOPER, as shown in the following table. For the DOPER types 00h, 0Ch, and 0Eh, the remaining 9 bytes of the DOPER are ignored.

The grbitSgn field corresponds to comparison operators, as shown in the following table.

AUTOFILTERINFO: Drop-Down Arrow Count (9Dh)

This record stores the count of AutoFilter drop-down arrows. Each drop-down arrow has a corresponding OBJ record. If at least one AutoFilter is active (in other words, the range has been filtered at least once), there will be a corresponding FILTERMODE record in the file. There will also be one AUTOFILTER record for each active filter.

Record Data

BACKUP: Save Backup Version of the File (40h)

The BACKUP record specifies whether or not Microsoft Excel should save backup versions of a file.

Record Data

BLANK: Cell Value, Blank Cell (201h)

A BLANK record describes an empty cell. The rw field contains the 0-based row number. The col field contains the 0-based column number.

Record Data

BOF: Beginning of File (809h)

The BOF record marks the beginning of the Book stream in the BIFF file. It also marks the beginning of record groups (or "substreams" of the Book stream) for sheets in the workbook. You can determine the BIFF version from the high-order byte of the record number field, as shown in the following table.

BOF Record Number Field

Record Data

The rupBuild and rupYear fields contain numbers that identify the version (build) of Microsoft Excel that wrote the file. If you write a BIFF file, you can use the BiffView utility to determine the current values of these fields by examining any BOF record in a workbook file.

BOOKBOOL: Workbook Option Flag (DAh)

This record saves a workbook option flag.

Record Data

BOOLERR: Cell Value, Boolean or Error (205h)

A BOOLERR record describes a cell that contains a constant Boolean or error value. The rw field contains the 0-based row number. The col field contains the 0-based column number.

Record Data

The bBoolErr field contains the Boolean or error value, as determined by the fError field. If the fError field contains a 0 (zero), the bBoolErr field contains a Boolean value; if the fError field contains a 1, the bBoolErr field contains an error value.

Boolean values are 1 for true and 0 for false.

Error values are listed in the following table.

BOTTOMMARGIN: Bottom Margin Measurement (29h)

The BOTTOM MARGIN record specifies the bottom margin in inches when a sheet is printed. The num field is in 8-byte IEEE floating-point format.

Record Data

BOUNDSHEET: Sheet Information (85h)

This record stores the sheet name, sheet type, and stream position.

Record Data

The grbit field contains the options listed in the following table.

A Visual Basic procedure can set the Visible property of a sheet to create a very hidden sheet. A very hidden sheet can be made visible again by a Visual Basic procedure, but there is no way to make the sheet visible through the user interface of Microsoft Excel.

CALCCOUNT: Iteration Count (0Ch)

The CALCCOUNT record stores the Maximum Iterations option from the Options dialog box, Calculation tab.

Record Data

CALCMODE: Calculation Mode (0Dh)

The CALCMODE record stores options from the Options dialog box, Calculation tab.

Record Data

CODEPAGE: Default Code Page (42h)

The CODEPAGE record stores the default code page (character set) that was in use when the workbook was saved.

Record Data

COLINFO: Column Formatting Information (7Dh)

The COLINFO record describes the column formatting for a range of columns.

Record Data

The grbit field contains the options listed in the following table.

CONTINUE: Continues Long Records (3Ch)

Records that are longer than 2084 bytes (this includes the 4 bytes for record number and record length) must be split into several records. The first section appears in the base record; subsequent sections appear in CONTINUE records.

Record Data

COORDLIST: Polygon Object Vertex Coordinates (A9h)

This record stores the coordinates of the vertices in a polygon object.

Record Data

The VTX structure is defined as follows:

typedef struct _vtx
    {
    unsigned short int x;
    unsigned short int y;
    }
        VTX;

The upper-left corner of a polygon's bounding rectangle is (x = 0h, y = 0h), and the lower-right corner is (x = 4000h, y = 4000h), as shown in the following illustration.

After the polygon is drawn, Microsoft Excel normalizes the coordinates in rgVTX to the bounding rectangle. The actual size of the polygon can be derived from the size of the bounding rectangle in the common object fields section of the OBJ record.

COUNTRY: Default Country/Region and WIN.INI Country/Region (8Ch)

This record contains localization information.

Record Data

The default country/region index, iCountryDef, is determined by the localized version of Microsoft Excel that created the BIFF file. For example, all BIFF files created by the U.S. version of Microsoft Excel have iCountryDef = 1. If Microsoft Excel for Windows created the BIFF file, iCountryWinIni is equal to the index that corresponds to the country/region setting in the Win.ini file. Country/region indexes are defined in the following table.

CRN: Nonresident Operands (5Ah)

The CRN record describes nonresident operands in a formula. For example, if you have a worksheet that contains the formula =EXT.XLS!A1*A3, where EXT.XLS is not the active workbook, the nonresident operand EXT.XLS!A1 generates a CRN record that describes cell A1. If the nonresident operand contains more than one row, there is one CRN record for each row. For example, if the formula =EXT.XLS!A1:A4*4 is array-entered on a worksheet, there will be four CRN records.

If a worksheet contains two different formulas and each formula has multiple nonresident operands, Microsoft Excel may create one CRN record or several CRN records, depending on how the nonresident cells are arranged. For example, suppose that a worksheet contains two formulas (in different cells), =EXT.XLS!A1*2 and =EXT.XLS!B1*2. Because the nonresident operands are in a row and are not separated by an empty cell, Microsoft Excel creates only one CRN record containing information about cells A1 and B1.

If, however, the formulas are =EXT.XLS!A1*2 and =EXT.XLS!C1*2, Microsoft Excel creates two CRN records because an empty cell (B1) separates the two operands, A1 and C1.

Record Data

The OPER structure repeats for each cell in the nonresident operand. For example, the formula =SUM(EXT.XLS!A1:A3) produces one CRN record with three OPER structures.

OPER Structure If the Cell Contains a Number

OPER Structure If the Cell Contains a String

OPER Structure If the Cell Contains a Boolean Value

OPER Structure If the Cell Contains an Error Value

DBCELL: Stream Offsets (D7h)

The DBCELL record stores stream offsets for the BIFF file. There is one DBCELL record for each block of ROW records and associated cell records. Each block can contain data for up to 32 rows. For more information about the DBCELL record, see Finding Cell Records in BIFF Files.

Record Data

DCON: Data Consolidation Information (50h)

The DCON record stores options from the Consolidate dialog box (Data menu).

Record Data

The iiftab field, described in the following table, corresponds to the Function option in the Consolidate dialog box (Data menu).

DCONNAME: Data Consolidation Named References (52h)

The DCONREF record contains the complete description of a named range of cells for the Consolidate command (Data menu). The stFile field contains an encoded workbook name; for information about this field, see EXTERNSHEET.

Record Data

DCONREF: Data Consolidation References (51h)

The DCONNAME record contains the complete description of a range of cells for the Consolidate command (Data menu). The rgch field contains an encoded workbook name; for information about this field, see EXTERNSHEET

Record Data

DEFAULTROWHEIGHT: Default Row Height (225h)

The DEFAULTROWHEIGHT record specifies the height of all undefined rows on the sheet. The miyRw field contains the row height in units of 1/20th of a point. This record does not affect the row height of any rows that are explicitly defined.

Record Data

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

DEFCOLWIDTH: Default Width for Columns (55h)

The DEFCOLWIDTH record specifies the width, measured in characters, for columns not explicitly sized in the COLWIDTH record.

Record Data

DELMENU: Menu Deletion (C3h)

The DELMENU record stores a menu deletion and is very similar to the ADDMENU record. For more information about menu system modification, see ADDMENU.

If fDelete is true (equal to 01h), the menu object is deleted at this level of the hierarchy. For example, if fDelete is true in the second DELMENU record of the group, Microsoft Excel deletes the specified menu from a menu bar. If fDelete is false (equal to 00h), the record is a placeholder, and one of the following DELMENU records in the group will define the menu deletion.

For menu items and submenu items, the icetabItem field stores the index to the deleted command if the item is attached to a built-in command. If icetabItem equals FFFFh, the stItem string from the rgch field is used instead.

Record Data

The first byte of the stItem string is the byte count, and the last byte is reserved.

DELTA: Iteration Increment (10h)

The DELTA record stores the Maximum Change value from the Options dialog box, Calculation tab. The number is in 8-byte IEEE floating-point format.

Record Data

DIMENSIONS: Cell Table Size (200h)

The DIMENSIONS record contains the minimum and maximum bounds of the sheet. It provides a concise indication of the sheet size.

Note that both the rwMac and colMac fields are greater by 1 than the actual last row and column. For example, a worksheet that exists between cells B3 and D6 would have the following dimensions in the dimensions record (note rows and columns are 0-based in BIFF files in which row 1 and column A are both coded as 0):

rwMic = 2 — indicates that 3 is the first row

colMic = 1 — indicates that B is the first column

rwMac = 6 — indicates that 6 is the last row

colMac = 4 — indicates that D is the last column

Record Data

DOCROUTE: Routing Slip Information (B8h)

This record stores originator information for a routing slip and other information for document routing. The rgch field contains the concatenation of seven null-terminated strings: Subject, Message, Route ID, Custom Message Type, Book Title, Originator's Friendly Name, and Originator's System-Specific Address. The lengths of the strings are contained in the seven fields, cchSubject through ulEIDSize.

Record Data

The wFlags field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

EDG: Edition Globals (88h)

The EDG record contains information about the publisher/subscriber feature. This record can be created only by Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh. However, if any other platform version of Microsoft Excel encounters the EDG record in a BIFF file, it leaves the record in the file, unchanged, when the file is saved.

Record Data

EOF: End of File (0Ah)

The EOF record marks the end of the workbook stream or the end of one of the substreams in the workbook stream. It has no record data field and is simply 0A000000h.

EXTERNCOUNT: Number of External References (16h)

The EXTERNCOUNT record specifies the number of externally referenced workbooks, DDE references, and OLE references contained in a Microsoft Excel workbook.

For example, a worksheet contains the following formulas in cells A1:A3:

=SALES.XLS!Profits

=Signal|System!Formats

=Signal|StockInfo!MSFT

This worksheet would have a value of 3 in the cxals field of the EXTERNCOUNT record, corresponding to the three external references SALES.XLS, Signal|System, and Signal|StockInfo.

Record Data

EXTERNNAME: Externally Referenced Name (223h)

The EXTERNNAME record stores an externally referenced name, DDE link, or OLE link. All EXTERNNAME records associated with a supporting workbook must directly follow the EXTERNSHEET record for the workbook. The order of EXTERNNAME records in a BIFF file should not be changed.

External Name

When the EXTERNNAME record stores an external name, fOle and fOleLink are both equal to zero (FALSE), and the record has the form shown in the following table.

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

DDE Link

When the EXTERNNAME record stores a DDE link, the record has the form shown in the following table.

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

OLE Link

When the EXTERNNAME record stores an OLE link, fWantAdvise and fOleLink are equal to 1 (TRUE), and the record has the form shown in the following table.

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

EXTERNSHEET: External Reference (17h)

The EXTERNSHEET record specifies an externally referenced workbook. The cxals field of the EXTERNCOUNT record specifies the number of EXTERNSHEET records. You should not change the order of EXTERNSHEET records.

An externally referenced workbook is called a source workbook. The workbook that refers to it is called a dependent workbook.

Record Data

The cch field contains the length of the source workbook filename. The rgch field contains the source workbook filename.

Filename Encoding

Whenever possible, filenames are encoded to make BIFF files transportable across file systems. Encoded filenames are identified by the first character of the rgch field. The first character of the rgch field may be any one of the values listed in the following table.

chEmpty indicates that the filename is an external reference to an empty workbook name, as in the formula =Sheet1!$A$1.

chSelf indicates that the filename is an external reference in which the dependent and source workbooks are the same. An example of this is the workbook SALES.XLS, which contains the formula =SALES.XLS!$A$1.

A chDDE key (03h) can occur in the rgch field; it is not necessarily the first character in the field, as are chEmpty, chEncode, and chSelf. This key indicates that the external reference is a DDE or OLE link. In a DDE link, the chDDE key replaces the | (pipe) character that separates the DDE application and topic. In an OLE link, chDDE separates the classname and filename.

A chEncode at the beginning of rgch indicates that the filename of the source workbook has been encoded to a less system-dependent filename. The special keys listed in the following table are recognized in the rgch field.

FILEPASS: File Is Password-Protected (2Fh)

If you type a protection password (File menu, Save As command, Options dialog box), the FILEPASS record appears in the BIFF file. The wProtPass field contains the encrypted password. All records after FILEPASS are encrypted; you cannot read these encrypted records.

Note that this record specifies a file protection password, as opposed to the PASSWORD record (type 13h), which specifies a sheet-level or workbook-level protection password.

Record Data

FILESHARING: File-Sharing Information (5Bh)

This record stores file-sharing options selected in the Options dialog box, accessed by using the Save As command (File menu). The write reservation password that you type in the dialog box is encrypted to an integer, wResPass. This record also contains the user name of the file's creator, stUNWriteRes.

Changes for BIFF7

There are minor changes to the behavior of this record in BIFF7. For Microsoft Excel version 7.0 workbooks that do not contain shared lists, this record behaves as it does in BIFF5.

For Microsoft Excel version 7.0 workbooks that contain shared lists, there will be both FILESHARING and FILESHARING2 records in the Book stream. In this case, FILESHARING always contains a dummy password. FILESHARING2 contains either a dummy password if the workbook is not write protected, or a valid password if the workbook is write protected.

Record Data

FILESHARING2: File-Sharing Information for Shared Lists (1A5h) (New for BIFF7)

In Microsoft Excel version 7.0 workbooks that contain shared lists, FILESHARING2 contains either a dummy password if the workbook is not write protected, or a valid password if the workbook is write-protected. If the workbook does not contain shared lists, this record does not appear in the file.

This record does not appear in BIFF5 files.

Record Data

FILTERMODE: Sheet Contains Filtered List (9Bh)

If the sheet contains a filtered list, the file will contain a FILTERMODE record. This record has no record data field.

FNGROUPCOUNT: Built-in Function Group Count (9Ch)

This record stores the number of built-in function groups (Financial, Math & Trig, Date & Time, and so on) in the current version of Microsoft Excel.

Record Data

FNGROUPNAME: Function Group Name (9Ah)

This record stores the name of a custom function category.

Record Data