(originally posted on excel application error forum--sorry for duplicating)

I receive the "Access denied. Contact your administrator" error message
after trying to load an excel file saved by Office 2003 but in the new Office
2007 format (via MS compatibility program) from a shared directory.

Here is the deal...

1. Laptop has Office 2003 Pro and is part of a peer to peer network via
router with dsl access.
2. Desktop has Office 2007 Pro and has no problem loading or saving files on
the Laptop's Shared Directory--via peer to peer network.
3. Desktop saves excel file in 2007 format in Laptop's Shared Directory.
4. Laptop loads and modifies excel file, then saves in 2007 format.
5. Desktop is no longer able to load file..."Access denied. Contact your
administrator." is the message from Bill Gates and Company.
6. But...if you copy the files from the Laptop to the Desktop (files now
reside on local directory), THEN AND ONLY THEN will Office 2007 load the
modified file.
7. Laptop has Windows XP, Desktop has Media Center.

What works?
1. Desktop can load from the Laptop any and all files saved in Office 2007
format...if saved by Office 2007--not by Office 2003.
2. Desktop can load from the Laptop any and all files saved in Office 2003
format.
3. Desktop can load from the Laptop any and all files saved by Office 2007
but formatted for Office 2003.

So last night...after 4 hours with MS tech support and 5 techs (all from
India), I was told, "At this time, MS does not support that particular
network feature for Office 2007. Please continue checking with us for a fix,
sorry. Is there anything else we can help you with today?"

Followup today...for an undetermined fee that will placed on my credit card
they will attempt to find a fix. If the fix does not work I can request a
refund...they will not know the fee until the work is completed.

Gee...any takers?

I discovered this fix...save all files in Office 2003 format. But, then why
buy Office 2007?, so much for forward and backward compatibility!

My $0.02 (USD of course)...I think Office 2007 sucks...going back to Office
2003!