Microsoft KB Archive/132976

= Error Opening File That Refers to Shortcut =

Article ID: 132976

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q132976





SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel, when you open a workbook that contains a reference to a shortcut to a workbook, one of the following symptoms occurs:

 If the workbook that you open contains the defined name "Auto_Open" that refers to a macro in the shortcut to the workbook, you receive the following error message

Cannot find ' '! , which has been assigned to run each time [ ] is opened. Continuing could cause errors. Cancel opening [ ]?

where is the name of the shortcut to the workbook that contains your macro, is the name of the macro you want to run automatically, is the name of the workbook that you are opening that contains the Auto_Open defined name. If the workbook that you open contains a link to a cell in the shortcut to the workbook, the File Not Found dialog box appears (if you choose to reestablish the link).



CAUSE
In Microsoft Windows 95, you can create a shortcut to any program, document, or printer, and put this shortcut in any folder or on the desktop. This makes it easy to access the objects that you use most frequently. However, if you create a link or reference to a shortcut to a workbook in a Microsoft Excel workbook, the above behavior occurs because Microsoft Excel does not recognize the workbook that the shortcut refers to.



WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior, create the link or reference to the original workbook instead of to a shortcut to the workbook.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

