When you open a workbook in Microsoft Excel 97, you receive the following error message: and you cannot open the workbook.

Back to the top

This problem occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

•	In Microsoft Excel 5.0 or 7.0, you create a workbook that contains a Visual Basic module with a name that contains one or more exclamation points (for example, "Module!1") or question marks. -and-
•	You open the workbook in Microsoft Excel 97, and then save it in the Microsoft Excel Workbook format. -and-
•	You do not remove the exclamation points or question marks in the name of the module before you save the workbook. -and-
•	You close, and then attempt to reopen the workbook.

If you save a workbook that contains a module with a name that contains an exclamation point or a question mark in the Microsoft Excel 97 workbook format, you cannot open the workbook in any version of Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft recommends that you remove exclamation points and other illegal characters from the module name when you first open the workbook in Microsoft Excel 97.

Back to the top

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows, Service Release 1.

Back to the top

For more information about problems you may encounter when module names include illegal characters, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Back to the top