XL98: Opening or Saving Earlier Version Files with External Data

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Forward Compatibility

When a Microsoft Excel 5.0 workbook that contains external data is opened in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, the query ranges are converted to QueryTables, and an unhidden defined name that references the external data range is created.

NOTE: The data source name (DSN) connection information is also preserved with the workbook so that the query range can be saved in the Microsoft Excel 5.0 file format.

When you refresh or update external data, Microsoft Excel may be unable to locate the data source. This behavior may occur when you open an earlier version of a file that contains a data source name, and the data source name is not found on the computer. This problem may also occur when the appropriate driver that is referenced in the data source information is not found. When this happens, an error message similar to the following appears:

[INTERSOLV][Macintosh ODBC Driver Manager]
Data source name not found and no default
driver specified

For additional information about this problem, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Backwards Compatibility

When you save a Excel 98 file that contains a saved query that uses external data in the Excel 5.0 file format, all of the external data ranges (QueryTables) are converted to Excel 5.0 query ranges that are compatible with the Microsoft Query add-in, Xlquery.xla.