self-changing column widths

[sawedoff]

I have a user who saved a copy of an Excel workbook from our company intranet to her desktop. She updates it for her own records. The problem is, sometimes when she opens it, the column widths have changed without her doing it. They always get smaller, never larger, and they often get small enough that it hides part of the column's contents. When it happens, it is not uniform between worksheets in the workbook. Some sheets may change, others not.

I know this sounds more like voodoo than computer tech, but does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

Sawedoff

 

[firefytr]

Hi, does the workbook contain any macros? Does your user enable macros or have her security set to low?

-----------
Regards,
Zack Barresse

 

[sawedoff]

No, it does not contain any. Her security level is set to High.

Sawedoff

 

[sawedoff]

By the way, I forgot to mention, she is using Excel 2K and Win XP. I am using Win2K, Excel 2K, and I can't reproduce it on my PC.

Sawedoff

 

[GlennUK]

This may not be the same thing, but I had a user once, and he used to accidentally hit Ctrl-` ( don't ask how! ), and switch sheets to formula view, so he'd have a mixture of sheets in his book, some with formula view, some with results view, and of course when switching it appeared as if the column widths had changed. This can be very confusing if all the entries are constants and there are no formulae to view. Just an idea ... check Tools/Options/View on the sheets to see what the settings are.

Cheers, Glenn.

Did you hear about the literalist show-jumper? He broke his nose jumping against the clock.

 

[sawedoff]

Nope. I had her look through all 54 sheets. That wasn't it. It did sound promising though.

Any other suggestions? since many other people use this workbook (most from the intranet) and nobody else has had the probem, I am beginning to suspect the local installation, either corrupt Excel, or maybe an oddity in her version of the file.

Thanks.

Sawedoff

 

[combo]

Do you work with external data or pivot table that updates when opening workbook? If so, untick adjustment of column width in data range properties.

combo

 

[sawedoff]

No, it's self contained, no updates, and I don't think there are even any formulas. The most complicated thing in any of the sheets are a bunch of hyperlinks to other sheets in the same workbook.

In my opinion, it actually should have been created in a Word or HTML doc, but it was already done when it got to me.

Thanks anyway.

Sawedoff

 

[firefytr]

Well, I don't know off the top of my head and would probably have to have it in front of me and working with it to try and recreate the error. Let me know if you want to do this. (I hate going off-board, but sometimes it's far easier and less problematic.)

-----------
Regards,
Zack Barresse

 

[sawedoff]

Thanks. Maybe later. I'm going to re-install Office today. It only happens to her, and up to 200 other users use that file (just not the copy saved on her desktop) and nobody else has the problem. I have seen it in action, and found that 2 things cure it. 1 - close Excel and reopen, or 2 - go to page break view and back to normal.

I'll re-post if it still acts up after a re-install.

Thanks to all.

Sawedoff

 

[firefytr]

It might be a display error or driver error too.

-----------
Regards,
Zack Barresse