Hi Naomi
I might be able to answer you second question, I use the following code to detect Excel 2007 and save the file without alerts:

xl.DisplayAlerts = .F.
if '12' $ xl.version && XL 2007
xl.ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs(this.xlFilename,39)
else
xl.ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs(this.xlFilename)
endif


Hope this helps
Kevin