Microsoft Excel 97 is not entirely compatible with Microsoft Windows XP. It returns the error "A document with the name '[docname]' is already open.  You cannot open two documents with the same name, even if the documents are in different folders," even if you don't have any other documents open.

 

You can reboot until you're blue in the face, but there's nothing stuck in memory, and there's probably nothing wrong with your spreadsheet. The problem is with Excel 97 on Windows XP. Here's how to fix it:
  1. Verify that you really are running Excel 97 and not some later version.
  2. Click on the Start button.
  3. Click on "Run..."
  4. Type "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Excel.exe" /unregserver (Make sure you include the quotations marks!) then click OK.
  5. Type "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Excel.exe" /regserver (Make sure you include the quotations marks again!) then click OK.

 You should be good to go. Calculate away!

Last Updated ( Monday, 15 February 2010 11:21 )