Errors when saving Excel files

Question

I have hundreds of Excel files to open, update, save, and close. Normally I don't have any issues, but just today I started getting an error when saving files. It appears to happen roughly 5% of the time, to multiple files of various ages and formats, seemingly at random. The error message is:

"Errors were detected while saving [file path and name]. Microsoft Excel may be able to save the file by removing or repairing some features. To make the repairs in a new file, click Continue. To cancel saving the file, click Cancel."

When I click Continue the Save As box appears. Saving over the existing file worked fine the one time I tried it.

When I click Cancel (which I've taken to doing every time) a box appears "Document not saved". I try to save it again and most of the time it simply saves the file without any errors (though a couple of times the error repeated itself).

Sometimes when this happens, a file appears in the save folder. The file has a name that's a mix of numbers and capital letters (e.g. "EE03B000" -maybe it's hexadecimal), and Windows Explorer lists it as a "file" under the Type column. At ~832k these are typically four times as large as the Excel file I was trying to save when the file got created, though the size might be a coincidence.

All of the Excel files being opened, edited, and saved that have experienced this issue are in a shared folder, and in a folder backed up by Carbonite. I have ruled out the possibility of any other users having had the files opened at the same time as me.

Answer 1

The only potential issue I couldn't rule out was a conflict with anti-virus software.

However, after rebooting I could not get the error to repeat itself. I shoulda known. When in doubt, reboot.

Answer 2

Hi Bill,

Welcome and thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

As per your issue, please check the below article and verify the results.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271513

For more information, please check the below link:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officeprog/thread/3fff1f44-431f-4bf6-bb85-116d98894d5e

Hope this information helps. Please post to us if you need any further assistance with Office.

Thank you.