Why does all office software ask me to save changes to documents I have not
changed?

Excel has the nerve to ask me if I want to open a document as read only and
STILL asks me to save changes (there are none) if I open it that way.

What's really fun is going through closing (and confirming non-existent
changes to) four or five Excel documents, then cancelling closing one and
watching all the windows reopen.

Let's not mention that Excel is the ONLY piece of software for windows that
closes all instances if you close one window.

----------------
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suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
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link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
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http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...lic.excel.misc

I would go vote 'disagree' as I normally do to these, even though
Microsoft are (reputedly) understandably ignoring them, but I'm not
sure what your point is.

Changing the opening view to the current showing probably covers most
of what you dislike, but I think it's more programmed logic than
'nerve' that Excel uses.

We could ask Microsoft to close all instances of Word under the same
circumstances too?

--

Aaron Oxford Wrote:
Why does all office software ask me to save changes to documents I have
not
changed?

Excel has the nerve to ask me if I want to open a document as read only
and
STILL asks me to save changes (there are none) if I open it that way.

What's really fun is going through closing (and confirming
non-existent
changes to) four or five Excel documents, then cancelling closing one
and
watching all the windows reopen.

Let's not mention that Excel is the ONLY piece of software for windows
that
closes all instances if you close one window.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the
"I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and
then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://tinyurl.com/pwcuv


--
Bryan Hessey
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryan Hessey's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=21059
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=534429

There are worksheet functions that are volatile--they reevaluate when they want
to.

Things like =today(), =now(), =rand() (and more)

If you have any of these functions in your workbook, then excel sees that as a
change (after the recalc).

Since there was a change (even if YOU didn't do it), excel is nice enough to
remind you when you close that workbook.

===========
Don't use the X associated with the application window.

use the X associated with the sheet window.

(Yes, excel works differently than MSWord.)

Aaron Oxford wrote:

Why does all office software ask me to save changes to documents I have not
changed?

Excel has the nerve to ask me if I want to open a document as read only and
STILL asks me to save changes (there are none) if I open it that way.

What's really fun is going through closing (and confirming non-existent
changes to) four or five Excel documents, then cancelling closing one and
watching all the windows reopen.

Let's not mention that Excel is the ONLY piece of software for windows that
closes all instances if you close one window.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...lic.excel.misc

--

Dave Peterson

I would go vote 'disagree' as I normally do to these, even though
Microsoft are (reputedly) understandably ignoring them, but I'm not
sure what your point is.

In any normal application, if I close a window, that window closes. If I
open something as read-only, it is read only. If I cancel closing one window
I don't expect four or five others to reopen. I can't see how you can't
understand that.

Changing the opening view to the current showing probably covers most
of what you dislike, but I think it's more programmed logic than
'nerve' that Excel uses.

How is it logical to bug the user TWICE about read-only documents when in
fact ZERO annoying dialogs are required?

We could ask Microsoft to close all instances of Word under the same
circumstances too?

For the love of God, please NO!

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

There are worksheet functions that are volatile--they reevaluate when they want
to.

Things like =today(), =now(), =rand() (and more)

If you have any of these functions in your workbook, then excel sees that as a
change (after the recalc).

Since there was a change (even if YOU didn't do it), excel is nice enough to
remind you when you close that workbook.

If that is the case, why bug me in the first place to open the document as
read-only? Or (warning: logical solution follows) just discard the changes,
since you have already confirmed read-only-ness with the user!?!?

===========
Don't use the X associated with the application window.

use the X associated with the sheet window.

(Yes, excel works differently than MSWord.)


And also any logical piece of software written for Windows. No wait, MYOB
sucks almost (but not quite) as hard.

Is it silly for me to expect that the window close button closes the window
I'm looking at? They're separate windows according to the task-bar...

There are lots of cases where I open a file as readonly--not because I don't
want to save my changes, but because I want to protect the existing workbook.

I want to make tons of changes and then save as a new name. By opening the
existing file as readonly, I know that I won't screw that one up.

And if I weren't prompted, I may forget to save as the new name.

It seems like a very reasonable approach to me.

Aaron Oxford wrote:

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

There are worksheet functions that are volatile--they reevaluate when they want
to.

Things like =today(), =now(), =rand() (and more)

If you have any of these functions in your workbook, then excel sees that as a
change (after the recalc).

Since there was a change (even if YOU didn't do it), excel is nice enough to
remind you when you close that workbook.

If that is the case, why bug me in the first place to open the document as
read-only? Or (warning: logical solution follows) just discard the changes,
since you have already confirmed read-only-ness with the user!?!?

===========
Don't use the X associated with the application window.

use the X associated with the sheet window.

(Yes, excel works differently than MSWord.)


And also any logical piece of software written for Windows. No wait, MYOB
sucks almost (but not quite) as hard.

Is it silly for me to expect that the window close button closes the window
I'm looking at? They're separate windows according to the task-bar...

--

Dave Peterson

Bah, we are going nowhere. But to finish the discussion.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

There are lots of cases where I open a file as readonly--not because I don't
want to save my changes, but because I want to protect the existing workbook.

Precisely. Read only is read only. No saving, because there's no changes.

I want to make tons of changes and then save as a new name. By opening the
existing file as readonly, I know that I won't screw that one up.

And if I weren't prompted, I may forget to save as the new name.

It seems like a very reasonable approach to me.


Basically it comes under the heading of dialog fatigue. If Excel bugs me to
save changes whether or not they've occurred, I might tell it not to save as
usual when in fact I wanted to this time. If I forget to save changes because
I forgot, that's my problem. If I automatically answer that annoying dialog
box the way I always do and lose changes I was making, *then* I blame Excel
for my loss.

Thanks for the discussion, maybe someone at MS will take it into account for
the next version.

You missed my point he

There are lots of cases where I open a file as readonly--not because I don't
want to save my changes, but because I want to protect the existing workbook.

Precisely. Read only is read only. No saving, because there's no changes.

My point was that I want to save my changes to a different workbook.

And I (and I think most people) appreciate that warning.

But maybe MS will agree with you in a future version.


Aaron Oxford wrote:

Bah, we are going nowhere. But to finish the discussion.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

There are lots of cases where I open a file as readonly--not because I don't
want to save my changes, but because I want to protect the existing workbook.

Precisely. Read only is read only. No saving, because there's no changes.

I want to make tons of changes and then save as a new name. By opening the
existing file as readonly, I know that I won't screw that one up.

And if I weren't prompted, I may forget to save as the new name.

It seems like a very reasonable approach to me.


Basically it comes under the heading of dialog fatigue. If Excel bugs me to
save changes whether or not they've occurred, I might tell it not to save as
usual when in fact I wanted to this time. If I forget to save changes because
I forgot, that's my problem. If I automatically answer that annoying dialog
box the way I always do and lose changes I was making, *then* I blame Excel
for my loss.

Thanks for the discussion, maybe someone at MS will take it into account for
the next version.

--

Dave Peterson