Automatic re-naming of .xls by Excel

[steveplant123]

I do not use Exel very much so I'm not that familiar with it so I hope this is actually an easy problem to solve!

My PC has suddenly taken to re-naming Excel documents by itself by adding a '1' to the end of the name.

For example if I open Test.xls the workbook which opens up is named Test1.xls

So when I have finished with it I have go back in and 'save as' and change the name back to 'Test' which is a bit irritating.

It never used to do this and it doesn't happen on my laptop (running the same program)

I haven't been able to find a reference to this problem out in Google land so I am tuning to the experts for help!

(PS I have tried reinstalling the program but the problem persists)

Thanks in advance!

[Special-K]

What happens if you do this?

Open a text file in Notepad.
Make a change to the file, and save it.

Does the same problem occur, ie opening File.txt results in File1.txt being created?
If so, then this sounds like a Windows problem rather than Excel specific.

[steveplant123]

Hi there and thanks for your input.
I tried your test with both notepad and Word and they both open and save the documents WITHOUT renaming them.
It would seem the problem only affects Excel - odd!

Regards, Steve P

[rollis13]

With Excel closed, go the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Xlstart and rename the file personal.xls that probably will be present, then restart Excel and see if the issue goes away.

[steveplant123]

Thanks for your suggestion.
My version of Excel (in the Office 2000 package) didn't have the 'office10' folder (just Office, Office12 and Templates)
however I found Xlstart in this folder:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\XlStart - but unfortunately it was empty!

I tried making a new 'office10' folder to see if Excel might create the personal.xls file you referred to in it after Excel was open/closed, but with no luck!

So it still remains a bit of a mystery!!

Thanks anyway, Steve

[abousetta]

The easiest option might be to do a repair or complete reinstallation of Office. The issue might be a small glitch somewhere that will be hard to track down.

[rollis13]

Yes, for Excel 2000 the folder is "Office", sorry.
Well, another try is to create a new User Account and use Excel from there. If it works you could then transfer all your other "stuff" (documents, desktop, favorites, emails, menus) from the old to the new and then delete the old.

[steveplant123]

The easiest option might be to do a repair or complete reinstallation of Office. The issue might be a small glitch somewhere that will be hard to track down.

Thanks for your input - this was my first port of call actually! However the problem remains.

As I only use Excel occasionally I will probably just live with the problem.

The main thing is that I have now put it to all you experts and no one has told me (yet!) I that I have got
some hidden setting 'enabled' which is doing the renaming.

Thanks for your help for now but if anyone gets a 'Eureka' moment I'd still be interested.

Regards, Steve P

[steveplant123]

As I only use Excel occasionally I will probably just live with the problem. - Getting a bit complicated with multiple accounts!

The main thing is that I have now put it to all you experts and no one has told me (yet!) I that I have stupidly got
some hidden setting 'enabled' which is doing the renaming.

Thanks for your help for now but if anyone gets a 'Eureka' moment I'd still be interested.

Regards, Steve P

[martindwilson]

try
- Close Excel
- Hold down the Windows key and press R (the "Run" dialog should appear)
- In the Run dialog, enter: excel /unregserver
- Press enter.
- Bring up the Run dialog again and enter: excel /regserver
- Press enter.

[Theale]

I may be way off mark here, in which case I apologise to those wiser than me.
However, using a Mac, when I open a document (and that includes pdf, xls etc files) that I have ALREADY OPENED, it comes up as "Test-1", "Test-2" etc.
Could it be something as simple as the fact that you already have the file open and it is trying to tell you this?
David

[abousetta]

Hi David,

I really don't know??? but thank you anyways for sharing this point. I don't use macs and so have never encountered this issue before.

abousetta

[steveplant123]

Well I have just tried the 'excel /regserver' suggestion but unfortunately it didn't cure the problem.

I then tried opening my 'test' document again after reading Theale's experience with the Mac. Sure enough each instance of the document was sequentially numbered test1, test2, test3 etc.
(bearing in mind that I start with 'test1' and not just 'test')

This suggests to me that my PC is somehow thinking I have the 'test' document already open BEFORE I actually open it!

Is there perhaps some sort of document cashe which is failing to get cleared when I close a document?