Knowledge Base

XL97: "Cannot Convert" Error Saving File in Earlier Format

Article ID: 167077

Article Last Modified on 10/22/2000

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q167077

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you save a workbook in an earlier format, such as any of the following formats

Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook
Microsoft Excel 4.0 Worksheet
Microsoft Excel 3.0 Worksheet
Microsoft Excel 2.1 Worksheet

you may receive multiple error messages similar to the following:

A formula in a cell (Cell:B7) could not be converted because it contains a function that is not available in the file format to which you are saving. If you continue the save, the formula and result will be saved, but the function itself will be converted to an error value.

-and-

Microsoft Excel cannot convert some of the cells. The total number of errors found is 3.

-and-

This workbook contains features that are not supported by the file format that you selected. To avoid the possible loss of formatting or information, be sure to save a copy in the most recent Microsoft Excel Workbook format.

CAUSE

You receive these error messages if either of the following conditions is true:

The workbook or worksheet that you are saving contains formulas that use functions that do not exist in the earlier version of Microsoft Excel. -or-

Functions in your formulas refer to arguments that do not exist in the earlier version of Microsoft Excel.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 97.

MORE INFORMATION

If the workbook or worksheet contains functions or arguments that are not supported in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, you receive the error messages in the "Symptoms" section of this article when you save a file in a file format of an earlier version of Microsoft Excel.

If you save the file in the format of an earlier version, save a copy of the workbook in the Microsoft Excel Workbook format (for Microsoft Excel 97 version). This step ensures that you do not permanently lose any of your formulas or formatting.

The worksheet functions that are available in Microsoft Excel 97 and are not available in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel are specified in the following table.

   Function       7.0   5.0   4.0
   ------------------------------

   AMORDEGRC                   x
   AMORLINC                    x
   AVERAGEA        x     x     x
   CONCATENATE                 x
   COUNTBLANK                  x
   COUNTIF                     x
   GETPIVOTDATA    x     x     x
   HYPERLINK       x     x     x
   MAXA            x     x     x
   MINA            x     x     x
   POWER                       x
   ROMAN                       x
   ROUNDDOWN                   x
   ROUNDUP                     x
   SQLREQUEST                  x
   STDEVA          x     x     x
   STDEVPA         x     x     x
   SUBTOTAL                    x
   SUMIF                       x
   VARA            x     x     x
   VARPA           x     x     x

In addition, other functions such as VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, DAYS360, and WEEKDAY accept more arguments in Microsoft Excel 97 than they do in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

The "Cannot Convert" Error Message

The "Microsoft Excel cannot convert some of the cells" error message reports a varying number of errors. This number depends on the file format in which you save the workbook or worksheet. This behavior occurs for the following reasons:

Functions and arguments that are supported in one earlier version of Microsoft Excel (for example, version 5.0) may not be supported in another earlier version of Microsoft Excel (for example, version 4.0).
Depending on how you enter formulas in your worksheets, some cells that contain unsupported functions and/or arguments may not be reported. This behavior occurs if any of the cells that contain the formulas are using "shared" formulas. If cells contain shared formulas, the number reported by the error message may be smaller than expected.

The difference in the number of reported cells is not cause for concern; however, you should be aware of the difference. Make sure you save a copy of the workbook in the Microsoft Excel Workbook format to avoid losing formulas and formatting.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

136733 XL: "Cannot Write Record" Error Saving File to Earlier Format

Additional query words: 97 XL97

Keywords: kberrmsg kbprb KB167077

Microsoft KB Archive/167077

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