XL2000: "Check the Spelling of the File" Error Message When You Open File with a Name That Contains Unicode Characters

When you attempt to open a workbook, the following error message may appear where File name is the name of the file you are trying to open. In the error message, the file name contains one or more underscore characters (_) or question marks (?).

This problem can occur if the following conditions are true:

• The file name of the workbook contains one or more Unicode characters. Usually, this occurs only if the workbook has been saved from a foreign-language version of Microsoft Excel that supports Unicode characters in file names.
  
  -and-
• You are running Microsoft Excel under an operating system that does not support Unicode characters in file names, for example:
  • The U.S. English language version of Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98
    
    -or-
  • The U.S. English language version of the Macintosh operating system.

NOTE: Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 both support Unicode characters in file names, so this problem does not occur when you run programs under these operating systems.

To work around this behavior, use the appropriate method.

Method 1: Using Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, or a Double-Byte Character Set (DBCS) version of Windows 95 or Windows 98

If you are using a computer running Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, or a version of Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 that supports Unicode characters in file names, you can use Windows Explorer to rename the workbook so that its name does not contain Unicode characters. After you rename the workbook, you can open it in Microsoft Excel.

Method 2: Using U.S. English Language Version of Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98

If you are running a non-Unicode version of Windows 95 or Windows 98, you cannot use Windows Explorer to rename the workbook. To rename the workbook, follow these steps:

1. Open the workbook in the version of Microsoft Excel that the workbook was created in.
2. On the File menu, click Save As. Change the name of the workbook so that it does not contain any Unicode characters.
3. Click Save.

After you save the workbook with a name that does not contain Unicode characters, you can open the workbook in Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Because their alphabets use characters that are not in the standard ASCII character set, the following language versions of Microsoft Excel support Unicode characters in file names: When you save a workbook in any of these versions of Microsoft Excel, you have the option of including Unicode characters in the name of the workbook. If you do this and you then attempt to open the workbook on a computer running an operating system that does not support Unicode, you may encounter the following problems:

• In versions of Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 that do not support Unicode, the Unicode characters in the workbook file name are displayed as underscore characters. In addition, you cannot open the workbook.
  
  If you attempt to rename the workbook, you receive the following error message
  Cannot rename Filename: Cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and filename.
  and the workbook is not renamed.
• In versions of the Macintosh operating system that do not support Unicode, the Unicode characters in the file name are displayed as question marks. You cannot open the workbook, and you cannot rename the workbook.
• In Microsoft Windows 2000 or in Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, the Unicode characters in the workbook file name are displayed as square characters. However, you can open the workbook, and you do not receive an error message when you rename the workbook.