An important spreadsheet started failing synchronisation today:

Error Converting File
Cannot convert file '[filename]'
Unknown error 8000abcd.

A web search brought up only three similar incidents, and noone had
answers. Gloom.

I remembered that I had added a comment to a cell for the first time (in
that workbook), and removed it. Bingo - error gone. Presented for your
Googling pleasure...

Excel 2003 SP3, with ActiveSync 4.5.0.

Phil, London

Philip Herlihy <thiswillbounceback@you.com> wrote:

>An important spreadsheet started failing synchronisation today:
>
> Error Converting File
> Cannot convert file '[filename]'
> Unknown error 8000abcd.
>
>A web search brought up only three similar incidents, and noone had
>answers. Gloom.
>
>I remembered that I had added a comment to a cell for the first time (in
>that workbook), and removed it. Bingo - error gone. Presented for your
>Googling pleasure...
>
>Excel 2003 SP3, with ActiveSync 4.5.0.
>
>Phil, London

Just curious, why are you converting the file at all? Pocket
Excel can natively read a 2003 XLS file.
--
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Ed Hansberry (Please do *NOT* email me. Post here for the benefit of all)
What is on my Pocket PC? http://www.ehansberry.com/
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices www.pocketpc.com
What is an MVP? - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices wrote:
> Philip Herlihy <thiswillbounceback@you.com> wrote:
>
>> An important spreadsheet started failing synchronisation today:
>>
>> Error Converting File
>> Cannot convert file '[filename]'
>> Unknown error 8000abcd.
>>
>> A web search brought up only three similar incidents, and noone had
>> answers. Gloom.
>>
>> I remembered that I had added a comment to a cell for the first time (in
>> that workbook), and removed it. Bingo - error gone. Presented for your
>> Googling pleasure...
>>
>> Excel 2003 SP3, with ActiveSync 4.5.0.
>>
>> Phil, London
>
> Just curious, why are you converting the file at all? Pocket
> Excel can natively read a 2003 XLS file.

I'm not, as far as I know. I've never had reason to think about it. My
set-up is entirely standard - I guess you'd have to ask the author of
the error message why it's worded that way, if no conversion is going
on. Shared code, I guess...

Phil

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the userful information.

--
Regards,
Raj Pillai
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices
http://www.pocketpcfaq.com/raj



"Philip Herlihy" <thiswillbounceback@you.com> wrote in message
news:fi752c$jho$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk...
> An important spreadsheet started failing synchronisation today:
>
> Error Converting File
> Cannot convert file '[filename]'
> Unknown error 8000abcd.
>
> A web search brought up only three similar incidents, and noone had
> answers. Gloom.
>
> I remembered that I had added a comment to a cell for the first time (in
> that workbook), and removed it. Bingo - error gone. Presented for your
> Googling pleasure...
>
> Excel 2003 SP3, with ActiveSync 4.5.0.
>
> Phil, London

Philip Herlihy <thiswillbounceback@you.com> wrote:

>Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices wrote:
>> Philip Herlihy <thiswillbounceback@you.com> wrote:
>>
>>> An important spreadsheet started failing synchronisation today:
>>>
>>> Error Converting File
>>> Cannot convert file '[filename]'
>>> Unknown error 8000abcd.
>>>
>>> A web search brought up only three similar incidents, and noone had
>>> answers. Gloom.
>>>
>>> I remembered that I had added a comment to a cell for the first time (in
>>> that workbook), and removed it. Bingo - error gone. Presented for your
>>> Googling pleasure...
>>>
>>> Excel 2003 SP3, with ActiveSync 4.5.0.
>>>
>>> Phil, London
>>
>> Just curious, why are you converting the file at all? Pocket
>> Excel can natively read a 2003 XLS file.
>
>I'm not, as far as I know. I've never had reason to think about it. My
>set-up is entirely standard - I guess you'd have to ask the author of
>the error message why it's worded that way, if no conversion is going
>on. Shared code, I guess...

In ActiveSync, go into the options tab for file sync and see what
it is doing for .XLS. It should be set to No Conversion. You'll
have to poke around a bit. I forget the exact menu commands to
get there and I am on Vista, so no ActiveSync. It uses WMDC to
sync.
--
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Ed Hansberry (Please do *NOT* email me. Post here for the benefit of all)
What is on my Pocket PC? http://www.ehansberry.com/
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices www.pocketpc.com
What is an MVP? - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices wrote:
> Philip Herlihy <thiswillbounceback@you.com> wrote:
>
>> Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices wrote:
>>> Philip Herlihy <thiswillbounceback@you.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> An important spreadsheet started failing synchronisation today:
>>>>
>>>> Error Converting File
>>>> Cannot convert file '[filename]'
>>>> Unknown error 8000abcd.
>>>>
>>>> A web search brought up only three similar incidents, and noone had
>>>> answers. Gloom.
>>>>
>>>> I remembered that I had added a comment to a cell for the first time (in
>>>> that workbook), and removed it. Bingo - error gone. Presented for your
>>>> Googling pleasure...
>>>>
>>>> Excel 2003 SP3, with ActiveSync 4.5.0.
>>>>
>>>> Phil, London
>>> Just curious, why are you converting the file at all? Pocket
>>> Excel can natively read a 2003 XLS file.
>> I'm not, as far as I know. I've never had reason to think about it. My
>> set-up is entirely standard - I guess you'd have to ask the author of
>> the error message why it's worded that way, if no conversion is going
>> on. Shared code, I guess...
>
> In ActiveSync, go into the options tab for file sync and see what
> it is doing for .XLS. It should be set to No Conversion. You'll
> have to poke around a bit. I forget the exact menu commands to
> get there and I am on Vista, so no ActiveSync. It uses WMDC to
> sync.

I'd never stumbled on those dialogues before!
Tools/Options, Rules (tab), Conversion Settings (button). There are
separate tabs then for each direction. Device to Desktop, it's set to
convert .pxl to .xls, and .xls to .xls (no conversion). The other way,
it's set to convert .pxl to .pxl, and .xls. to .pxl.

Having removed the comment, this is all working for me. It ain't broke,
so I'm not going to fix it! Thanks for the interesting pointer,
nevertheless.

Phil

"Philip Herlihy" wrote:

> An important spreadsheet started failing synchronisation today:
>
> Error Converting File
> Cannot convert file '[filename]'
> Unknown error 8000abcd.
>
> A web search brought up only three similar incidents, and noone had
> answers. Gloom.
>
> I remembered that I had added a comment to a cell for the first time (in
> that workbook), and removed it. Bingo - error gone. Presented for your
> Googling pleasure...
>
> Excel 2003 SP3, with ActiveSync 4.5.0.
>
> Phil, London
>

I had an identical error message, but different cause.

In Excel, I had turned on Data > Autofilter. This was enough to choke the
conversion. After turning it off, everything was working again.