The RTD function generates an Excel 4.0 macro warning when you open an Excel 2002 workbook in Excel 97

When you open a Microsoft Excel 2002 workbook in Microsoft Excel 97, you receive the following warning message: When you click Disable Macros, you receive the following warning message:

These messages occur when all of the following conditions are true:

• You create the workbook in Microsoft Excel 2002.
  
  -and-
• The workbook contains a formula that uses the RTD() function.
  
  -and-
• Macro Virus Protection is enabled in Microsoft Excel 97.
  
  -and-
• You open the workbook in Microsoft Excel 97.

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

The RTD (Real-Time Data) worksheet function is a new feature of Microsoft Excel 2002. To preserve this feature when earlier versions of Microsoft Excel open the file, Excel 2002 saves the function as a Future Record Type, which appears as a user-defined function in Microsoft Excel 97. Microsoft Excel 97 interprets this function as Excel 4.0 macro functionality, and displays the warning message described in the "Symptoms" section of this article.