Cannot include "[" or "]" in filename path???

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Calab - 05 May 2008 22:08 GMT

When I try to save an Excel spreadsheet to My
Document/[Activities]/2008-05-05 I recieve an error that some characters are
not allowed. [ and ] are both valid characters for a file name.

What can I do to get Excel to accept these characters at the SaveAs dialog
box?

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Dave Peterson - 05 May 2008 22:27 GMT

They may be valid from a windows standpoint, but excel uses them for something
special.

If you have a link to another workbook, you'll see those square brackets in the
formula.

=[book1.xls]Sheet1!$A$1
(with book1.xls open)

or

='C:\My Documents\excel\[book1.xls]Sheet1'!$A$1
(with book1.xls closed)

Your life will be much easier if you learn to live with Excel's limitations
<vbg>.

> When I try to save an Excel spreadsheet to My
> Document/[Activities]/2008-05-05 I recieve an error that some characters are
> not allowed. [ and ] are both valid characters for a file name.
>
> What can I do to get Excel to accept these characters at the SaveAs dialog
> box?

Signature

Dave Peterson

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Calab - 05 May 2008 23:34 GMT

> They may be valid from a windows standpoint, but excel uses them for
> something
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> =[book1.xls]Sheet1!$A$1
> (with book1.xls open)

> Your life will be much easier if you learn to live with Excel's
> limitations
> <vbg>.

...or if I just find a decent spreadsheet software.

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Harlan Grove - 06 May 2008 04:16 GMT

"Calab" <dont.s...@me.here> wrote...

>"Dave Peterson" <peter...@verizonXSPAM.net> wrote in message

...

>>Your life will be much easier if you learn to live with Excel's
>>limitations
>
>...or if I just find a decent spreadsheet software.

Other spreadsheets have different restrictions, but FWIW OpenOffice
doesn't use square brackets to enclose filenames in external
references. Lotus 123 used (well, uses - still sold but not marketed)
angle brackets <<filename>>, which was a much better decision for DOS/
Windows than Microsoft's own choice.

Anyway, while you can't SAVE NEW files using pathnames that contain
square brackets, you can OPEN and SAVE/OVERWRITE workbooks with square
brackets in their pathnames, but it is a huge PITA.

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