Article ID: 274500 - Last Review: August 2, 2007 - Revision: 2.4

"Save changes in <bookname>" prompt even if no changes are made

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This article was previously published under Q274500

SYMPTOMS

When you close a workbook in Microsoft Excel, you may be prompted to save changes to the workbook even if you have not made any changes.

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This behavior occurs when Automatic or Automatic except tables calculation mode is selected on the Calculation options settings of Excel, and when your workbook contains any of the following items:

A formula that uses volatile functions
A formula that contains a link to a formula in another workbook and that uses volatile functions
Linked pictures
Iterative formulas
Charts that are on chart sheets or that are embedded into worksheets but that have their source data in another workbook

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MORE INFORMATION

When you open a workbook while Automatic or Automatic except tables calculation mode is selected, Excel automatically recalculates the following items:

Volatile functions
Linked pictures
Iterative formulas

Because of this automatic recalculation, Excel prompts you to save changes to the workbook when you close it.

Volatile Functions in Excel

   CELL()     OFFSET() TODAY()
   INDIRECT() NOW()
   INFO()     RAND()

The CELL() function is not considered volatile in some situations, even though it causes this behavior.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

211370 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211370/ ) CELL function with "filename" no longer volatile

Charts

When you close a workbook that contains a chart of any type, Excel prompts you to save changes to the workbook. This is because of the way that Excel handles charts.

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