With the FC command what changes are evident. Is this perhaps some
"accessed" time stamp?

bogstick wrote:

Yes i am opening Excel 2003 files with Excel 2007.
And yes the MD5 signature changes each time the file is opened and closed!
Are you able to replicate this with a blank document?

"Bob I" wrote:


Ok, are you opening and closing the "Excel 2003" files with Excel 2007?
And if so, do they change every time you open and close them, or is it
just the first time.

bogstick wrote:


You are right! This seems to be an issue only with Excel 2003 files!
When I used FC command, there was a small difference picked up!
I tried with 2007 .xlsx and the MD5 no longer changed!

So this is a fault of Excel 2003 documents? I wonder what the workaround
would be now if I were to still compare current Excel 2003 documents with
backup copies?

"Bob I" wrote:



If you do a FC (windows file compare) between a copy of the file that
has been opened and one that hasn't, what is listed as different. (.xlsx
files don't change for me)

bogstick wrote:


Anyone???

What is causing Excel documents to give different MD5 checksum values when
nothing is changed other than opening and closing the file??

"bogstick" wrote:




I like to routinely check my documents against backups by comparing MD5
signatures.
However, I find this impossible with Excel files because the MD5 value
changes just from opening and closing documents. I do not have this problem
with Word documents or any other type of file.
Could someone advise if there is an Excel setting that is causing this? If
so, do I need to use another file integrity checking method? What?