PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, Second Edition

Palm Desktop Problems in Windows

Palm Desktop, described in Chapter 8, is the PalmPilot’s home-base software on your PC. Because it must interact with your other programs—such as Microsoft Excel and Word, not to mention Windows itself—it’s substantially more susceptible to problems than the actual PalmPilot. Here are some of the ways out of trouble.

Word and Excel Macro Icons not Visible or Not Working

Under Windows 95, using Pilot Desktop 2.0, you’re supposed to see icons for Microsoft Word and Excel (if you have them installed on your PC). They let you drag-and-drop data from your Palm Desktop window to create automatically formatted reports, as described in Chapter 8.

If the Word and Excel icons don’t show up, or nothing happens when you drag data onto them, maybe it’s because you have Office 97, but you’re using Pilot Desktop 2.0 (which doesn’t work with Office 97). Upgrade to Palm Desktop 3.0 or later, available at http://www.palm.com.

If that’s not the trouble, then your Windows registry is probably confused. The lengthy but effective repair process is described at http://palmpilot.3com.com/custsupp/helpnotes/desktop/macronst.html.

Excel Doesn’t Launch When You Click the Expense Icon

If you get an error message when you click the Expense icon in Pilot Desktop (“Microsoft Excel could not be found”), then your Windows registry has gotten confused, as it’s wont to do. The solution is long and complex, but it works like a charm; it, too, is described at http://www.palm.com ...