Troubleshoot saving and closing files

When you save a file with an extension other than the default for that file type, your Microsoft Office program adds the default extension to the file name. For example, a file name for a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation might appear as Budget.abc.ppt. To save a file with an extension other than the default, enclose the entire file name in quotation marks— for example, "Budget.abc".

In Microsoft Windows, file names can contain some punctuation characters, such as commas or periods. When you save a file with a name that ends with a period— for example, Sales.— Microsoft Office programs add another period and the default extension to the file name. For example, a Microsoft Word document saved as Sales. will appear as Sales..doc. When you save a file with its default extension, it isn't necessary to type a period following the file name. Office programs automatically add the period when they add the extension.

Make sure that the file format you want is included with Microsoft Excel and is installed on your computer.

You can't make changes to a read-only file. To save changes, save the file with a new name by using the Save As command on the File menu. You can use the same name if you save the file in a new or different folder.

Note  When you save a Microsoft Excel worksheet in dBASE (DB2, DB3, or DB4) format and the worksheet contains a range named "Database," only data in the named range is saved in the dBASE file. If you add new records after naming the range, you must redefine the database range to include the new records before you save the sheet in dBASE format.

If there is no range named "Database" on the sheet, only data in the current region is converted. If the first row of data contains text, Excel uses it as the header row to define field names. If the first row contains all numbers, Excel creates field names such as N1, N2, and so on.

Make sure character strings are shorter than column width    When saving data in dBASE format, Excel assigns a data type to each field (column of data) that is based on the field data in the first record of the database range or current region.

If a field in the first record contains text, that field is assigned the character data type, and any numbers contained in the field in other rows become character strings. The column width of the field determines the string length; character strings longer than the column width are truncated in dBASE. To prevent losing data, select the range you want to convert in Excel, and apply a monospaced font such as Courier. To size the columns to show all the data, point to Columns on the Format menu, and then click AutoFit Selection. Numeric data fields cannot contain text; any text in a numeric data field becomes null.

Use a number format other than General    If decimal numbers have the General number format, the decimal places are truncated in dBASE. Before you save the data in dBASE format, apply a different number format to all data in that field. On the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Number tab. In the Category box, click Number or Scientific, and then specify the number of decimal places you want.

Change time data to text data    Fields that contain time data cannot be converted. Before you save data in dBASE format, you can change time data to text data by using the TEXT worksheet function. For example, to change the time 12:34 PM to text data, use the function =TEXT("12:34", "hh:mm AM/PM").

The workbook you are saving is set to automatically republish items to a Web page. A message is displayed to let you know you are republishing to a Web page, and gives you the opportunity to continue or disable AutoRepublish. For more information, click Help in the message.

You may also see a message alerting you to warnings and errors associated with the data you are republishing; for example, if you attempt to republish a range that includes external references, you are warned that the values (and not the references) will be republished. For more information on specific errors and warnings, click Help in the message.