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Upgrading to Excel 2000

Saving Workbooks in Excel 5.0/95 Format

If you save a Microsoft Excel 2000 workbook in Excel 5.0/95 Workbook format, you might lose some of the formatting, data, and features unique to Excel 2000.

System Policy Tip   You can use a system policy to define the default value for the Save as type option in the Save As dialog box (File menu). In the System Policy Editor, set the Microsoft Excel 2000\Tools | Options\Transition\Save Excel files as policy. For more information about the System Policy Editor, see Using the System Policy Editor.

Basic use features

The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
32,000 characters per cell Characters beyond the 255th character are truncated.
65,536 rows per worksheet Data in rows below row 16,384 are truncated.

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Formatting features

The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
Angled text Angled text is reformatted to horizontal orientation.
Conditional formatting Conditional formatting is lost, and cells are reformatted as normal text.
Data validation Lost in the conversion.
Indenting within cells Indentation within a cell is lost, and data remains left­aligned.
Merge cells option on the Alignment tab in the Cells dialog box (Format menu) Merged cells are split into their original configuration. Data appears in the upper-left cell.
New border styles New border styles are converted to the nearest border style available in Excel 5.0 or Excel 95.
Partial page breaks Partial page breaks are converted to full page breaks.
Sheet backgrounds Lost in the conversion.
Shrink to fit option on the Alignment tab in the Cells dialog box (Format menu) Text and data retain the same point size they had before Shrink to fit was selected.

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Formula and function features

The following new functions are not supported in Excel 95 or Excel 5.0. Excel 95 and Excel 5.0 calculate the functions before saving the file and replace the formula with the resulting value.

AVERAGEA

MAXA

MINA

STDEVA

STDEVPA

VARA

VARPA

HYPERLINK

GETPIVOTDATA



The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
Defined labels Lost in the conversion.
English language references in formulas English language references are converted to A1 reference notations. However, names of named cells and ranges are preserved.

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Chart features

The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
3­D bar shapes (cylinder, pyramid, and cone) Converted to 3­D column charts (rectangular shape).
Angled text on axis and data labels The text is formatted straight (0 degrees).
Bubble chart format Converted to type 1 xy (scatter) charts.
Data tables on charts Lost in the conversion.
Gradient fills Gradient fills are converted to the nearest color and pattern.
Office Art objects Office Art objects are converted to the nearest available shape and tool.
Pie­of­pie and bar­of­pie chart types Charts are converted to type 1 pie charts.
PivotChart reports Displayed as regular charts. Multiple level category labels are modified, and value axis display units are converted into literal values.
Shading in surface charts Lost in the conversion.
Shadows on series and points Lost in the conversion.
Time series axis Special scaling information is lost, and the axis is converted to a normal category axis.

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PivotTable features

The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
Calculated fields, calculated items, and formatting based on structure Preserved until the user makes changes to or refreshes the PivotTable data. Then they are lost.
External data ranges Auto-refresh, column formatting, filtering, and sorting do not work.
Indented format PivotTable reports If edited, reports change to nonindented layout but maintain character and cell formatting.
OLAP PivotTable and PivotChart reports Appear as read-only.
PivotChart reports Appear as regular charts. Multiple level category labels are modified, and value axis display units convert to literal values.
PivotTable features The following properties new in Excel 2000 are lost in the conversion:

Page field placement across columns or down rows

Server-based page fields

Multiple selection on page fields

Persistent grouping and sorting

Data fields displayed as numbers

PivotTable properties sheet

All new properties are lost. These include:

Page field placement across columns or down rows

Alternate strings for NA and error cell display

Server­based page fields

AutoSort and AutoShow on fields

Multiselect on page fields

Persistent grouping and sorting

Data fields displayed as numbers

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Workgroup and Internet features

The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
Comments Comments are converted to CellTips.
Hyperlink (Insert menu) The HYPERLINK value is lost.
Multiuser workbooks Sharing is disabled, and the change tracking history is lost in the conversion.
Revision marks and audit trail Lost in the conversion; the change log is also lost.

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Data access features

The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
Parameterized queries Parameterized queries cannot be run or edited.
Report templates Lost in the conversion.
Shared queries (connections without a data source name, or DSN) Files that contain connections without DSN are supported in Excel 95 (with ODBC 2.0). In Excel 5.0 (with ODBC 1.0), the user is prompted for connection information.

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Programming features

The following table describes new features in Excel 2000 that might affect your data or formatting in previous versions.

When this Excel 2000 feature Is saved in Excel 5.0/95 format
ActiveX controls (formerly OLE controls or OCX) Appear in the workbook but cannot be used.
New Excel 2000 objects, methods, and properties Not all program elements are supported. For more information about compatibility issues, see Sharing Workbooks with Previous Versions of Excel.
Forms toolbar controls Lost in the conversion.

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See also

You can specify the default format in which Excel 2000 saves new workbooks. For more information, see How to Specify the Default Format in Which to Save Files.



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Friday, March 5, 1999
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