>My workstation has Microsoft Office Excel 2003 (11.5612.5606)
>
>I needed to import a file that was sent to us in XLSM format.
>
>If I try to open with Excel it shows a conversion messagebox and then appears correctly on the screen.
>
>When I try to open it via automation however.........

>oxl=CREATEOBJECT("excel.application")
>oXL.DisplayAlerts = .F.
>oXL.Application.WorkBooks.Open(tcFile)
>oxL.visible = .T.

>
>the screen shows all sorts of crazy characters. Is there any way to force the format conversion process?
>
>Thanks to all.........Rich

Did you try checking if Open method has an extra parameter for the format?