Avatar of LockDown32
LockDown32
Flag for United States of America asked on

Excel Oddity

I have a customer running Excel 2013. She download spreadsheets from her payroll company. When she tries to open the spreadsheet it opens but no data displays. No error. No data. They are .xls (not .xlsx).

I copy the spreadsheet to my computer (Excel 2016) and it opens with the warning "The file format and extension of <filename.xls> don't match, The file could be corrupt. Do you want to open it anyway?" (she said this is normal). I say yes and it opens.

Here is the weird part. As long as I copy the spreadsheet to my computer (I don't even have to open it) and copy it back she can then open it. I don't do anything to it. Just copy it to my computer and turn right around and copy it back. Then she can open it.

She can open all her other spreadsheets just fine (.xlsx). Just not these until I copy them to my computer and copy them back.....
Microsoft Excel

Avatar of undefined
Last Comment
Ashwin Rayaprolu

8/22/2022 - Mon
AL_XResearch

When you say "it opens but their is no data" do you mean that you see a blank workbook or the file opens but there is no workbook shown ?
Christopher Jay Wolff

What is the payroll company doing?  Is payroll company creating .xls with OpenOffice or QuickBooks or some other program?  Do they upload it to some place like Dropbox or something for her to access it and download it?  Is she or the payroll company using a Mac?  Does it work if payroll company emails a .xls file to her?  What versions of Excel is everyone using?
LockDown32

ASKER
No cells and hence no data. The ribbons are there but the body is just a solid light-gray background. No cell divisions either horizontally  or vertically. Screen shot attached. Copying them to a different location on her computer doesn't help.

Can't tell you what the Payroll Company is doing. She logs on interactively, generates reports and downloads the reports in .xls format. She is running Windows 10 and Office 2013.
Capture.PNG
Your help has saved me hundreds of hours of internet surfing.
fblack61
AL_XResearch

Try going to the 'View' tab and selecting ''New Window' - do you see anything ? If you do then somehow the system generating the workbook has made the workbook's default window indivisible. Let me know.
AL_XResearch

Also the 'file format doesn't match the extension' warning is commonly shown if the generating system creates the workbook in XLS format but gives it an XLSX extension.

XLS is a (old) binary format and XLSX is in reality a compressed file that contains (amongst other formats) multiple XML files.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
ThomasMcA2

THIS SOLUTION ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.
View this solution by signing up for a free trial.
Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.
See Pricing Options
Start Free Trial
GET A PERSONALIZED SOLUTION
Ask your own question & get feedback from real experts
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
LockDown32

ASKER
How annoying. The right-click => Properties => Unblock did the trick. She downloads them to her "Downloads" folder. Anything she can do on a permanent basis so she doesn't have to "Unblock" each and every download?
⚡ FREE TRIAL OFFER
Try out a week of full access for free.
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
ThomasMcA2

Other than to use Linux or a Mac, I have no idea.
Christopher Jay Wolff

Hi.  I'm not trying to change anything about this question status.  Wanted to put some more info here in case it helps generate ideas for dealing with your unblock automation.  This is about powershell scripting.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28961072/When-trying-to-export-from-Arena-the-file-is-not-opening-in-Excel.html
Ashwin Rayaprolu

There is an open source code to convert HTML Wrapped file to Excel (xls 2003 format). You can install that and embed that service and improve on it if required as its opensource.



https://github.com/ashwinrayaprolu1984/htmlwrapexcelconverterhttps://github.com/ashwinrayaprolu1984/htmlwrapexcelconverter
All of life is about relationships, and EE has made a viirtual community a real community. It lifts everyone's boat
William Peck
Ashwin Rayaprolu

There is an open source code to convert HTML Wrapped file to Excel (xls 2003 format). You can install that and embed that service and improve on it if required as its opensource.



https://github.com/ashwinrayaprolu1984/htmlwrapexcelconverter