Corrupted Personal.xls file in Excel 97 ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Milton Beychok
  • Start date Start date
M

Milton Beychok

Oops! This is a correction to the subject of my previous
posting. Please excuse me.
===========================================================
I am using Excel 97. As of a few days ago, every time I
start Excel I get a dialogue box that says "Personal.xls
is being modified by Milt" (that's me) and giving me three
choices: (1) Open the Personal.xls as a Read Only file,
(2) Notify me when it becomes available, (3) Cancel.

No matter which choice I take, the same dialogue box
appears the next time I start Excel. The only way I have
found to stop getting that dialogue box is to go to Progam
Files/Microsoft Office/Office/XLS Start ... in which
folder resides the file Personal.xls and right click on
that file and then select Properties and then check the
attribute Read Only. In other words, I make it a read
only file.

(a) Does making Personal.xls a read only file interfere
with its function?
(b) Is there any other way to stop having that dialogue
box appear when I start Excel?
(c) Is there any way to delete the existing Personal. xls
file and force Excel to create a new uncorrupted
Personal.xls file? Or would that cause the loss of some of
my customizing settings?

The only reason I can think of for the occurrence of the
dialogue box is that last week, when I was trying to learn
how to create macros, I may have triggered the problem
I'm now having.

Thanks in advance,

Milt Beychok
 
Phobos:

As I said in my posting, the Personal.xls file is in
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\XLS Start

I've done some searching and reading since I posted. What
I gather is that the Personal.xls file does not exist
until one creates one's first macro (which is probably
what happened when I was trying to learn how to record
macros). When that first macro is macro is created, the
Personal.xls is automatically created (and stored
in ....\XLS Start), and all one's other future macros are
stored in that file. From then on, whenever Excel is
started, the Personal.xls file is loaded and remains
hidden ... but the macros are available for use.

So I must have somehow messed up the Personal.xls file
which was created while I was trying to learn how to
create a macro. What I have done now is to completely
delete the Personal.xls file ... and I no longer get the
annoying dialog box when I start Excel.

From my reading, one can also open a new workbook and name
it Book.xlt. Then one can format and customize the
Book.xlt in a manner that one would like all other future
workbooks to be formatted and customized. In other words,
Book.xlt is intended to be one's template for all future
new workbooks. By storing Book.xlt in ...\XLS start, that
template would be loaded and remain hidden whenever Excel
is started and all of the formatting and customizing in
that template would be applied to any future new workbooks.

I gathered the above understanding by performing a Google
search on Personal. xls and Book.xlt and reading the many
returns that I got. I hope my understanding is correct.
If not, please let me know if I have it right.

It would be a great idea if someone wrote a detailed
article about Personal.xls and Book.xlt with a detailed
step-by-step explanation of why and how they work.

Milt Beychok
 
Only "global" macros go in the personal.xls workbook. Normal macros that are
for that workbook only will go into normal modules within the current
workbook. However, if someone attempted to write a new macro with the macro
recorder and then selected Personal Macro Workbook from the dropdown in the
dialogue box that comes up which asks where you want to store it, then it
would create a personal.xls workbook at that time.
Richard Choate

Oops! This is a correction to the subject of my previous
posting. Please excuse me.
===========================================================
I am using Excel 97. As of a few days ago, every time I
start Excel I get a dialogue box that says "Personal.xls
is being modified by Milt" (that's me) and giving me three
choices: (1) Open the Personal.xls as a Read Only file,
(2) Notify me when it becomes available, (3) Cancel.

No matter which choice I take, the same dialogue box
appears the next time I start Excel. The only way I have
found to stop getting that dialogue box is to go to Progam
Files/Microsoft Office/Office/XLS Start ... in which
folder resides the file Personal.xls and right click on
that file and then select Properties and then check the
attribute Read Only. In other words, I make it a read
only file.

(a) Does making Personal.xls a read only file interfere
with its function?
(b) Is there any other way to stop having that dialogue
box appear when I start Excel?
(c) Is there any way to delete the existing Personal. xls
file and force Excel to create a new uncorrupted
Personal.xls file? Or would that cause the loss of some of
my customizing settings?

The only reason I can think of for the occurrence of the
dialogue box is that last week, when I was trying to learn
how to create macros, I may have triggered the problem
I'm now having.

Thanks in advance,

Milt Beychok
 
Do you start multiple instances of excel (not just multiple workbooks in the
same instance)?

Do you see multiple excel icons on your windows taskbar? If yes, then that
might be the problem. The first instance opens the file, the second says it can
only open in readonly mode.

If this is true, I'd try to stop the behavior.

Close Excel and
Start|Run
excel.exe /regserver

The /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's factory defaults.

If that doesn't work, try:
Try Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)


=========

But to answer your questions:

a. A readonly version of personal.xls won't stop its functions, but it might be
irritating if you record a macro (or simply make changes) in the readonly
version. My personal (no pun intended) opinion is to not touch personal.xl*
(like recording macros directly into personal.xl*). I'll record into a test
workbook, revise it there (many saves along the way!).

Then when I'm happy, I'll merge it into my personal.xl* file.

b. Marking the file as readonly (in windows is one way) of stopping the
dialog. Saving the file as an addin should work, too. But then your macros
won't be visible in Tools|macro|macros... If you already build a
toolbar/menubar that runs your macros, you're set. If not, you'll have to do
some extra work.

I'd really try to stop opening multiple instances of excel.

c. Personal.xls isn't the spot where your settings get stored. (It's not like
Word's Normal.dot which holds lots of stuff and maybe some macros.) It's just
another workbook that's (usually) dedicated to macros and userdefined functions.

d. (I added this.) If you really didn't have a personal.xls file until you
recorded the macro and you don't want that macro anymore, you can dump it.
(Save it somewhere else--just in case!)
 
Actually, it's XLStart (and the location varies with versions of windows and
excel).

And personal.xls is only hidden if you saved it as a hidden workbook.

But other than that, your explanation looked ok to me.

But there is nothing special about personal.xls. It's just another workbook.
It is usually stored in XLStart so that it starts up there, though. But other
workbooks can be stored there, too.

And in general, personal.xls is used for storing macros that the user wants to
have available whenever he/she opens excel.

And on top of the book.xlt template that new workbooks are based on, you can
have a sheet.xlt template in your XLStart folder, too. Then any new worksheets
added to existing workbooks would be based on that template.
 
Thanks very much, Dave.

(1) No, I don'r run multiple instances of Excel nor do I
see multiple Excel icons in Windows.

(2) Since the only macro I had on Personal.xls was the
botched one that I tried to record, I came to same
conclusion as you did. I simply deleted the file and I no
longer have a Personal.xls file. When and if I ever learn
how to write Excel macros correctly, then I might again
create a Personal.xls file. Your idea of practicing macro
creation in a test workbook (instead of Personal.xls)is a
good one that I'll certainly do.

(3) Having read further, I now understand that my
preferred global settings should be stored in Book.xlt and
Sheet.xlt and both should be stored in \XLStart

Milt Beychok
 
Thanks for the correction. (It's been awhile since I created mine.)

Hank said:
Actually, it's XLStart (and the location varies with versions of windows and
excel).

And personal.xls is only hidden if you saved it as a hidden workbook.
Click to expand...

Yabut... when a completely new Personal.xls file is created by Excel
(i.e., when the user records macros in the Personal workbook, and
hasn't previously done so as per the OP's description below), it's
hidden by default. All the user needs to do is choose [Yes] at the "Do
you want to save changes to the personal macro workbook" prompt that
appears when they close Excel. Personal.xls will thereafter always
load as a hidden file until or unless the user actively unhides it
through Window -> Unhide... .
But other than that, your explanation looked ok to me.
[Snippage]

Milton Beychok wrote:
Click to expand...

[More snippage]

[Even more snippage]
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