Microsoft Knowledge Base Article
This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
©2005-©2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Terms
of Use |
Trademarks
Article ID: 306656 - Last Review: January 30, 2007 - Revision: 3.3
Insert Chart Causes Microsoft Excel to Fail When CSV File Contains Brackets
This article was previously published under Q306656
If you open a CSV file in Microsoft Excel, and then insert
a chart by using the Chart Wizard, Microsoft Excel may unexpectedly fail with
an access violation if the CSV file that you opened contains brackets ([ ]) in
the name. If you open the CSV file in Microsoft Internet Explorer, the brackets
may be added by Internet Explorer when a duplicate item by the same name
already exists in the local cache.
The exact error message depends on
the version of Microsoft Excel that you are using, and how the chart is added.
For example, in Microsoft Excel 2002 or later, a Microsoft Office Dr. Watson
dialog box appears, prompting you to restart Microsoft Excel and attempt a
recover. However, in Microsoft Excel 97 or 2000, the application fails and
Microsoft Windows displays a standard error message for an access violation:
The instruction at "0x3049acca" referenced memory at
"0x000000a0". The memory could not be "read".
When you build a chart by using the Microsoft Excel Chart
Wizard, you specify a range of data to use for the chart and a chart location.
These ranges are qualified with the sheet name. Because CSV files are simple
text files (and do not support multiple sheets or unique names), Microsoft
Excel uses the file name for the sheet name. However, if this sheet name
contains a square bracket (which it does if the file name also has the
bracket), Microsoft Excel mistakes the bracket for a range qualifier, which
eventually causes Microsoft Excel to fail when it tries to resolve the linked
range.
Do not use file names for your CSV files that contain
square brackets in the name. If you plan to open CSV files in Microsoft Excel
from Internet Explorer, consider returning them as attachments, and have the
user save them to disk before opening them in Microsoft Excel. Internet
Explorer removes the brackets that it uses for cache items when they are saved
to disk.
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft
products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Steps to Reproduce This Behavior
- Use Notepad (or another text editor) to create a file with
the following content:
name,phone,email
john,999-555-1010,johng@something.net
alice,999-555-1011,alice@something.net
- Save the file to your local disk hard drive by using a name
such as "Test[1].csv."
- Double-click the file to open it in Microsoft Excel. (If
another program has registered itself for the CSV extension, you can open the
file by starting Microsoft Excel from the Start menu, and then browsing to the CSV file from the File menu's Open dialog box.)
- When the file is open, select the data that appears. Click Insert, and then click Chart to start the Chart Wizard.
- Click Finish. Excel fails before the chart is inserted.
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Office Excel 2003
- Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
Community Feedback System
Very often, it takes hours to solve a problem. Very often, you've looked high
and low, and have tried a lot of solutions. When you finally found it, chances
are, it was because someone else helped you. Here's your chance to give back.
Use our community feedback tool to let others know what worked for you and what
didn't.
Please also understand that the community feedback system is not warranted to be
correct, it's simply a system that we've built to let people try and help each
other. If something in a feedback response doesn't make sense to you, or you're
not comfortable making changes that the feedback talks about (like registry
edits), please consult a professional.
Thank you for using kbAlertz.com Feedback System.
-- Scott Cate