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Excel 2003 different footers on different computers

I have one Excel 2003 file saved on the network shared drive. Using footers we keep a Rev. # for each time we change the file. The current Rev is #6, which when i got into Headers/Footers on the creators computer it says Rev.6. On almost any other computer in the company it shows as Rev.6. There are a few computers in the company where it has the exact same text, but it shows as Rev.3.

All the computers have the same version of office as the creator. MS Office 2003 SP3, 11.8326.8324. In the Headers/Footers the text is just text we've typed in manually. Track changes is not enabled on this file.

calacuccia

Synchronizing issue on these few computers which show rev.3?
I've seen the funniest things with Off-line Synchronization

mwwebb

ASKER

Nope these are desktop computers within the company that dont sync and dont move. Im going to double check that last statement, but im pretty sure thats not the problem.

calacuccia

It must have something to do with a local version, at least, that's how I see it.

mwwebb

ASKER

I checked sync and its definitely not turned on. Its a file that resides on a network mapped drive and access by both computers only through the network share. there are no shortcuts involved. When the users open the file, the open it by going through the share drive.

Here's something i did notice just now. Whatever it is thats causing it is profile based. when logged in as the person who uses this computer, the Header/Footer is different then whats in the file. When i log in as administrator on that same computer and open the file, it shows the correct information. So it is something local and profile based.

calacuccia

Is there something in the StartUp / XLSTart folder of Excel for the user with the issue?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822107/en-us

mwwebb

ASKER

might be, ill have to check tomorrow the user left for the day

Ingeborg Hawighorst (Microsoft MVP / EE MVE)

If a manually typed in value in a footer shows as 6 for one user and as 3 for another user, I strongly suspect either

- these are in fact two different files. Excel does not change data on a user profile basis. Is the mapped network drive going to exactly the same server directory?
- there are macros involved that change the footer upon opening the document

cheers, teylyn

mwwebb

ASKER

Definitely the same file.. i verified this myself, and no macros in this file either. Sorry..

I did notice though when i logged into the computer with this problem as a different user, the problem wasnt there. So i think its a profile problem.

Also noticed there are no .ops files on my users computer.

calacuccia

User profile > Hence my suggestion to look in the personal XLStart folders to see if there are any hidden macros... which might create an issue.

mwwebb

ASKER

I checked the XLStart directory and there is nothing in that folder.

calacuccia

Did you check if there is something in the field on Tools/Options Tab General "At Startup, open all files in"?

mwwebb

ASKER

If logged in as the user, this problem exists. When logged in as administrator the problem does not exist. thinking that this problem was profile based, logged in as administrator i renamed the users profile to User_name_old. Then had the user login and create a new profile. The problem was still there with the users new profile.

To double check i went back in as administrator again and the problem was once again gone.

mwwebb

ASKER

Checked the Tools/Options, "At Startup, open all files in:" and the field is empty

mwwebb

ASKER

Just to try it, i created a new file and made a footer with Rev.1, saved and closed. Reopened and incremented the footer by 1, until it was rev.6. Then went to the trouble computer and reopened the file and the Rev. was Rev.6. This file works just fine.

calacuccia

I'm out of ideas.

Except for one idea.

Could you change the name of the file on your shared drive (make a copy, just change 1 character) from a computer where the file is showing rev 6, and then open that slightly renamed file from the profile giving issues?

If this does show rev 6 now, I really suspect there is a version difference for the users with issues and a possible fix could then be so simple use the slightly renamed file from now on, and delete the one with the issues.

mwwebb

ASKER

Ok i tried this and it didnt work. Still the same issue.

Both computers have Office 2003, with the same service pack and the same revision number.

Im trying uninstalling office and reinstalling office.

mwwebb

ASKER

Uninstall and Reinstall seems to have fixed the problem. So weird!

mwwebb

ASKER

actually an unpatched version it was working, im now patching to get it up to date and hopefully it will still be working.

mwwebb

ASKER

realized that i was logged in as administrator after reinstalling. when i logged in as the user the problem was still there. im out of ideas also

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calacuccia

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mwwebb

ASKER

That was it.. Share workbook... was grey'd out and the file was read-only [shared]. removed the readonly tag, and disabled Share workbook and it cleared the problem right up!!

Thanks a lot for working and helping me with this.

mwwebb

ASKER

Dedicated and helped see the problem through to the end.

calacuccia

Thank you, I'm glad all our common efforts were fruitfull in the end.
I never used Shared Worklbooks and think I never will ;-)

Ingeborg Hawighorst (Microsoft MVP / EE MVE)

Whacky! Good on ya calacuccia. Maybe we should ask "is this a shared workbook" in every question about weird behaviour!