Excel: Workbook Document Names Truncated

ID: Q90171

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 4.0
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, version 4.0

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, using a slash mark (/) in an extended workbook document filename results in the name being cut off; that is, all characters up to and including the slash mark are dropped from the filename.

If two document names contain identical characters following the slash mark, they will be truncated to the same name. For example, the names


   Division1/Sales

   -and-

   Division2/Sales

will be cut off at the slash mark character, resulting in two documents with the name "Sales" (without the quotation marks). The next time you open your workbook, Microsoft Excel displays the error message:

Cannot Bind Document with the Same Name as Another Bound Document

Microsoft Excel opens the second Sales document as an unbound document instead of as a bound document.

Microsoft Excel has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel version 4.0. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Excel version 4.0a for Windows.

MORE INFORMATION

In most cases, if you attempt to use an invalid character in an extended document name, Microsoft Excel displays the message

Bound filename is invalid

and you are forced to change the name to a valid name. The slash mark is not recognized as an invalid character, so Microsoft Excel accepts it in extended document names resulting in the names being cut off when you close your workbook.

You may also encounter errors when you open a worksheet that is linked to a bound document that contains a filename with slash mark. Opening any of these linked worksheets results in the message:


   Update references to unopened documents?

If you choose the Yes button, Microsoft Excel displays the error message:

Filename is not valid

When you choose the OK button, Microsoft Excel displays the File Not Found dialog box which allows you to select a document or worksheet name for the links. However, if you select your workbook from the list, Microsoft Excel displays a list of the original document names (that is, the names as they were before they were truncated). Selecting the original filename results in the same error because this name no longer matches the truncated document name.

At this point you can change the links to refer to another document (you can refer to any document in the list with a valid name). After you open your workbook and replace the invalid document name, you can redirect the links by choosing the Links command from the File menu.

For more information on redirecting links see, "User's Guide 1," version 4.0, pages 366-373.

The following conditions apply to names for bound documents in Microsoft Excel workbooks:

An extended document name must be at least one character long and cannot be more than 31 characters long.

A bound document cannot have the same name as another bound document.

A document name cannot contain any of the following characters. Microsoft Excel version 4.0 will return an error on all of the following characters (except for the slash mark [/]):

colon (:)
backslash (\)
slash mark (/)
asterisk (*)
question mark (?)

Unlike Microsoft Excel version 4.0 workbooks, Microsoft Excel version 4.0a for Windows does not accept a slash mark in a workbook filename. Instead, the following error message is displayed:

Bound filename is invalid

REFERENCES

"User's Guide 1," version 4.0, page 74, 366-373

Additional query words: 4.00a date back

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