The changes that you made to a shared .xls file in an offline folder are not saved on a file server that is running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP

Consider the following scenario:

• You share an .xls file and an .xlsx file in an offline folder on a file server that is running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP.
• You open the folder in Windows Explorer from a computer that is running Windows Vista.
• You edit the .xls file, and then you save the .xls file to the offline folder.
• You open the file from another computer.

In this scenario, you find that the changes to the file were not saved.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To resolve this problem, apply the hotfix that is described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article, and then enable the hotfix. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Apply the following hotfix.
   956836  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956836/ ) Description of the Excel 2007 hotfix package (Excel.msp, Xlconv.msp): August 26, 2008
2. Enable the hotfix package. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start
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      , type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
      
      
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      If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
   2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\Options
   3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   4. Type VistaOfflineFilesCompatMode, and then press ENTER.
   5. Right-click VistaOfflineFilesCompatMode, and then click Modify.
   6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
   7. Exit Registry Editor.

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