The destination cell in a new workbook contains the value "#N/A" when you paste a link to the copied cell in Excel 2007

You copy a cell in a Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbook by using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 with the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Excel 2007 file formats installed. Then, you use the Paste Special feature to paste a link to the copied cell into a new workbook. When you do this, the destination cell in the new workbook contains the following value:

This problem occurs because of a problem with the way that the Paste Special feature works in this case.

To work around this problem, save the new workbook before you paste the link into a cell in the new workbook.

To do this in Microsoft Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Save.
2. Type a name for the workbook, and then click Save.

Note After you save the new workbook, you can use the Paste Special feature to paste the link to the copied cell into the new workbook.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

Steps to reproduce the problem

1. Open an existing Excel 2007 workbook by using Excel 2003 with the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack installed.
2. Right-click a cell in the workbook, and then click Copy.
3. Open a new instance of Excel 2003.
   
   To do this in Windows XP, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Office Excel 2003.
   
   Note A new workbook is opened in a new instance of Excel 2003.
4. In the new workbook, right-click a cell, and then click Paste Special.
5. In the Paste Special dialog box, click Paste Link, click Microsoft Excel 8 Format, and then click OK.

When you do this, the destination cell in the new workbook displays an incorrect value.