Microsoft KB Archive/214370

= XL2000: "Unable to Write to Database" Error with Null String =

Article ID: 214370

Article Last Modified on 9/27/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q214370





SYMPTOMS
If you are saving a template that was created by using the Template Wizard in Microsoft Excel, you may receive the following error message:

Unable to write data to database. Make sure database is not protected and has valid field data-types.

and you cannot save data to the database.



CAUSE
This problem occurs when all of the following conditions are true:
 * You are saving your data to a Microsoft Access database.

-and-
 * One of the fields in your Access database is linked to a worksheet cell that contains a formula.

-and-
 * The formula returns a null string ("").



WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, modify the worksheet formula so that it does not return a null string ("").

For example, if the worksheet contains the following formula   A1: 1   B1: =IF(A1=1,"","not 1") and cell B1 is linked to a field in your database, you receive the error message when you try to save data. To prevent the message from appearing, change the formula in cell B1 to the following:   =IF(A1=1," ","not 1") NOTE: The only difference between the two formulas is that the second one contains a space between the quotation marks.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.



MORE INFORMATION
The Template Wizard with Data Tracking add-in creates a template that links selected cells in a workbook to fields in a database. When you base a new workbook on the template and type data in the linked cells, Microsoft Excel creates a new record in the database and copies the data to the corresponding data fields.

