Column widths changing in Excel

[OldGrandad]

I have created a spreadsheet for tracking absence, holiday and overtime for my workplace. I created it on my machine using Excel XP but use it on a machine at work that uses Excel '97. My problem is that after closing down and reopening another day the column widths have narrowed making data impossible to read until I have unprotected the sheet and changed the widths back to the correct width. Why is that? In protecting the sheet "all scenarios" are ticked and I was led to believe that would protect the layout as saved. Any hints would be gratefully recieved.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I've never used Office XP, but maybe you need to save the worksheet under an older format so Excel 97 can open it properly?

 

[AmerDoux]

You might want to check what the default column width is set for in the older .xl version.