Microsoft KB Archive/82278

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Error Message: Cannot Obtain Data from Excel fo

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Q82278

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 2.1, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0

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SUMMARY
This article describes several causes for the following Microsoft Word for Windows error message:

Cannot obtain data from Excel for

The information in this article applies to charts created in Microsoft Excel for Windows versions 2.1, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Word versions listed above. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0.

MORE INFORMATION
This error message can occur for the following reasons:

  The Word for Windows document contains an automatic update link to a chart in Microsoft Excel and the chart was renamed after the link occurred. To maintain a link to a renamed chart, you must change the filename in the field to the current name of the chart, and press the F9 key to update the field in the Word document.

To reestablish a link to the renamed chart, make sure that the Field Codes option is turned on. In the LINK or DDEAUTO field, change the filename to the chart's new name. Be sure to use double backslashes in the path, as in the following example: "c:\\excel\\chart1.xlc" In version 5.0 of Excel, when a chart sheet name is changed it will automatically update to the new name when the link is updated in Word 6.0.  In Excel, the Ignore Remote Requests option is selected in the Workspace dialog box. From the Options menu, choose Workspace, and clear the Ignore Remote Requests check box. Update the field in Word for Windows by pressing the F9 key. Your Excel executable file was renamed to something other than EXCEL.EXE. Rename it EXCEL.EXE.  When updating a link, Word for Windows actually launches Excel. If an Auto_Open macro runs when Excel is launched and the execution of that macro exceeds Word's DDE time-out setting, the &quot;Word cannot obtain data...&quot; error message occurs.

To prevent this error when it is caused by DDE time-out, modify the DDETIMEOUT=n setting in the Windows WIN.INI file. The value of &quot;n&quot; determines the number of seconds Word for Windows waits for DDE data from the source application. The default value for n is 30 seconds in Word for Windows version 1.x. The default value for n is 60 seconds in Word for Windows version 2.0.

In Word for Windows version 2.0, the DDETIMEOUT setting should be placed in the [Microsoft Word 2.0] section of the WIN.INI file as follows: [Microsoft Word 2.0] DDETIMEOUT=n In Word for Windows version 1.x, the DDETIMEOUT setting should be placed in the [Microsoft Word] section of the WIN.INI file as follows: 