Preserve Excel Macros in OpenOffice

I have an Excel spreadsheet with a number of macros. If I open the file with OpenOffice (v2.4) I can edit but not run the macros. That's not a problem but, having saved the edited file (edits being just changed values in unlocked cells), the buttons firing up the macros don't work when I reopen it in Excel 2007.

The scenario is that I have a Vaio laptop running Vista Business and Office 2007. I may shortly need to start travelling to a number of different countries where I don't really want to take my laptop - but I need a way to write up my work there. One option is to get something like the eePC with Linux - very attractive but I have the issue above. I could buy a second cheap Windows laptop but the non-MS option has other benefits I'll not go into here.

Does anyone know how to edit Excel files in OpenOffice without upsetting the macro function? I've tried opening with macros disabled but that does seem to help.

Thanks.

 

Have you tried saving it in Excel 97-2003 format. Not that I use OO but I thought that version 3 (when it arrives) was more Office 2007 compatible.

 

It's in Excel 97-2003 format. With a brief dig behind the scenes it doesn't look like OO changes the code but it seems to get unlinked (that's the best way I can describe it). Buttons that call it up lose any properties beyond their image - i.e. they're now just pictures - and running code directly from the VBA editor call it to fail when it calls another routine.

I'll need to try out some other spreadsheets to see if they get broken, but the one I've tested is the one I wanted to use. Perhaps I'll need to get the XP eePC version instad, and install my old copy of Office XP...

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm not sure why you're needing to use OO, but since OO is breaking the properties of the buttons, I would suggest using a seperate workbook for your OO edits and then write a piece of code so the unbroken workbook will harvest the new data from the OO saved version.

 

I would like to be able to use the spreadsheet on a Linux powered laptop - I'm not aware on any Excel version that runs on Linux. As I said earlier, I could use an XP laptop but there are advantages being able to use a Linux one.

I've already thought about writing a routine to copy the data from the "corrupt" copy to the original - that's fairly straightforward as the pages with changed data don't carry any code. However, I'm still intrigued as to what gets broken.

OO is touted as a replacement for MS Office for many businesses but I've not yet worked for a company that doesn't have VBA in some of its Office documents - not being able to run VBA it difficult for a company to switch - having VBA code disabled by OO makes a gradual migration next to impossible.