Cannot save Excel for Mac 2016 files to VM

[ShaneO2]

hi
I have Excel 2016 installed on my Mac and Parallels 15 running Windows 10, but I have a Windows program which collects data for me every 2 hours. I need to write a macro which will open the file this program creates from the Windows side and copy the data to a standard Excel spreadsheet. For this to happen, I need to identify the exact location of the files on the VM; so it is not just C:\Prices\2020...which is the local folder on the VM. There is more to the exact location. I also need Excel to be able to open and save to the VM folders, which it cannot currently, yet I have all the correct permissions in PD.

So what I needed to do to identify the exact location of the folder is to create a new Excel blank file and save it to the folder on the VM. That was where problem 1 surfaced. The following message popped up when trying to save

So I saved the file on my Mac and copied it across to the VM. That works, so am wondering why Excel cannot save to that location. I then created a macro to tell me the exact location the file is in, but when I try to save the macro in the macro enabled file, the same message pops up.

How is it possible for Excel for Mac to have proper access to the VM folders, for both saving and opening?

Thanks in advance

 

[MatthewB32]

On testing further, I was able to isolate the MACTF file issue, which appears to be generated by Excel and/or macOS for xlsx files, possibly related to the AutoRecover/AutoSave processes. Even when disabling all of those, and saving as xls instead of xlsx, I still get a similar error -- but it ends up being far simpler -- Excel cannot access /Volumes/ -- plain and simple.

My current hypothesis is that Excel has a (likely long-antiquated) issue with saving to volumes that have brackets in their name -- and Parallels creates its shared volume on the Mac side with the legacy Windows drive letter in brackets -- "[C] Windows 11" in my case. You can see one aspect of this issue if you try to save an Excel file with brackets in the name -- Excel says no, although Word is fine with it.

I can't seem to find anyway to change the naming convention Parallels uses when it mounts Windows drive images on the Mac side as a shared volume. There is a setting in the Parallels Control Center, under Options and then Sharing, to "Assign a drive letter to shared folders" which is checked by default. I unchecked it -- but based on where it appears (under Share Mac), it is for when you're mapping shared folders from the Mac side to Windows, not your actual local hard drive image or vice versa. I couldn't find any parallel (no pun intended) setting for omitting the drive letter for local drive(s) from the Windows side to Mac.

 

[Lorenzo11]

On testing further, I was able to isolate the MACTF file issue, which appears to be generated by Excel and/or macOS for xlsx files, possibly related to the AutoRecover/AutoSave processes. Even when disabling all of those, and saving as xls instead of xlsx, I still get a similar error -- but it ends up being far simpler -- Excel cannot access /Volumes/ -- plain and simple.

My current hypothesis is that Excel has a (likely long-antiquated) issue with saving to volumes that have brackets in their name -- and Parallels creates its shared volume on the Mac side with the legacy Windows drive letter in brackets -- "[C] Windows 11" in my case. You can see one aspect of this issue if you try to save an Excel file with brackets in the name -- Excel says no, although Word is fine with it.

I can't seem to find anyway to change the naming convention Parallels uses when it mounts Windows drive images on the Mac side as a shared volume. There is a setting in the Parallels Control Center, under Options and then Sharing, to "Assign a drive letter to shared folders" which is checked by default. I unchecked it -- but based on where it appears (under Share Mac), it is for when you're mapping shared folders from the Mac side to Windows, not your actual local hard drive image or vice versa. I couldn't find any parallel (no pun intended) setting for omitting the drive letter for local drive(s) from the Windows side to Mac.

UP

I have this very same problem and it's driving me nuts. Only with Excel. It's incredible this hasn't been fixed yet

 

[Lorenzo11]

Save and name a new spreadsheet
Click anywhere in the spreadsheet window to make it active, then choose File > Save (from the File menu at the top of your screen).
Enter a name in the Save As field, then enter one or more tags (optional).
Click the Where pop-up menu and choose a location. ...
Click Save.

Hope This Helps,
Peter

Thanks for your answer. "save as" works as intended, but it's not exactly "practical" to save a new version of the file every time you want to change something.

 

[JohnP67]

Over 2 years and Parallels has not seemed to look into this. Since Bir Sur Parallels has a broken Bluetooth now as well. Granted it was initiated by Mac with updates in Big Sur but it got so hard to get Parallels to fix it they closed my case ! I've 3 parallels subscriptions, thinking of testing something else and moving away from them after many years. It's unfortunate.

 

[BruceP4]

I'm running into the same issue, Parallels is sharing full disk access, and save as works fine so long as you're saving somewhere within the local mac structure. This issue is only impacting excel for mac as far as I can tell. I can edit save in the hidden C drive using word and several other formats and programs as well.

 

[GeoffF1]

I cannot believe three years in and this is still an issue. Bumping the thread because it's still not fixed. Yikes! Can save Word no problem, but Excel same issue as described.

 

[JohnP67]

Apparently I read somewhere that this issue is something in excel itself of which restricts Parallels from fixing it, hard to believe but guess it may be a possibility.