I have a utility program that creates an Excel file. Now when I run it, I
get a message "Save Cancelled by Operator" and if I bring up Excel, it opens
in Book2 (or Book3 or Book4, depending on how many times I've tried the
utility)

Searching for Book1 or Book2, etc., produces no results but if I shut down,
I have to close them out.

Any clues on how to escape this problem?

When you say "a utility program", do you mean VBA code running within
Excel? If yes, please post the code.

It is a utility from another windows, non-excel program, that copies fields
to an Excel workbook: I do not have the code.

"Dave O" wrote:

When you say "a utility program", do you mean VBA code running within
Excel? If yes, please post the code.

Then it sounds like a compatibility problem that only the utility's
programmer can solve. As a workaround, you might try recording the
sequence of steps (select these fields, copy, paste to a different
sheet, save both sheets, or what have you) as a macro.