Access 2003: Problem running update queries on linked-in Excel Spreadsheets

[Jim S]

To my surprise and chagrin, newer versions of Access have disabled the
functionality that lets users change the data in linked tables that point to
a range in an Excel workbook. This is "because of legal issues..." according
to Office Support.

I have other issues, specifically a couple of applications that do things
such as calculate price updates in Access and read them back by means of
update queries into the spreadsheets our marketing people prefer. These
things are simple stand-alone applications and have been working without
hassle for years. Now, as we upgrade our corporate software, they're
suddenly defunct.

I hope someone in this group has tripped over this issue before me and come
up with a workaround they would be generous enough to share.

Also, I'd be interested to know what else I might expect to blow up as we
migrate from Office 2000 to Office 2003.

For a while I thought that was a good idea.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Salmon

[Larry Linson]

The phenomenon you describe came about as a result of a software patent
suit.

I believe Microsoft's recommendation for a workaround, until they come up
with a suitable alternative approach, is to import the Excel data into
Access.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
"Jim S" <ji****@enter.net> wrote in message
news:43***********************@news.enter.net...

To my surprise and chagrin, newer versions of Access have disabled the
functionality that lets users change the data in linked tables that point
to
a range in an Excel workbook. This is "because of legal issues..."
according
to Office Support.

I have other issues, specifically a couple of applications that do things
such as calculate price updates in Access and read them back by means of
update queries into the spreadsheets our marketing people prefer. These
things are simple stand-alone applications and have been working without
hassle for years. Now, as we upgrade our corporate software, they're
suddenly defunct.

I hope someone in this group has tripped over this issue before me and
come
up with a workaround they would be generous enough to share.

Also, I'd be interested to know what else I might expect to blow up as we
migrate from Office 2000 to Office 2003.

For a while I thought that was a good idea.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Salmon

[Jim S]

Thanks for your input, Larry.

I've tried the altenative of putting the price update data in MS Access
reports that I've formatted to look as much like the spreadsheets as
possible, but that alternative got shot down by marketing. They want the
spreadsheets they've always had.

They are ancient but much loved, these spreadsheets. They are are also
strictly and heavily formatted with the relevant price cells on each sheet
in different places and with the effective dates and superceded dates
embedded in paragraphs of text.

They are also resistant to manipulation by Worksheet Macro or by
transferring a recordset from Access. There's nowhere to transfer it to...
The operation, in either case would have to address the Spreadsheets page by
page and cell by cell, and in the worst case offender there are about twenty
five pages. In other words, such programatic manipulation would require many
hundreds of separate operations, each slightly different.

My solution, failing a workaround less tedious than that, We're just gonna
keep at least one PC at corporate running Office 2000.

Probably the best idea anyway.

Jim S.
"Larry Linson" <bo*****@localhost.not> wrote in message
news:AOdFf.6782$In4.4358@trnddc06...

The phenomenon you describe came about as a result of a software patent
suit.

I believe Microsoft's recommendation for a workaround, until they come up
with a suitable alternative approach, is to import the Excel data into
Access.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
"Jim S" <ji****@enter.net> wrote in message
news:43***********************@news.enter.net...

To my surprise and chagrin, newer versions of Access have disabled the
functionality that lets users change the data in linked tables that point
to
a range in an Excel workbook. This is "because of legal issues..."
according
to Office Support.

I have other issues, specifically a couple of applications that do things
such as calculate price updates in Access and read them back by means of
update queries into the spreadsheets our marketing people prefer. These
things are simple stand-alone applications and have been working without
hassle for years. Now, as we upgrade our corporate software, they're
suddenly defunct.

I hope someone in this group has tripped over this issue before me and
come
up with a workaround they would be generous enough to share.

Also, I'd be interested to know what else I might expect to blow up as we
migrate from Office 2000 to Office 2003.

For a while I thought that was a good idea.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Salmon