how to resolve this issue: The Excel archive is corrupted: shared strings root=x:sst ??

[stj1120]

Hi all,

I have an excel file with SAP BW Query in it. After the schedule refresh I take that file as an input to the Alteryx workflow. 

I'm getting some strange error in Dynamic Input tool as below. But, I'm able to open the excel file without any issues. 

Error: Dynamic Input (4) The Excel archive is corrupted: shared strings root=x:sst

Due to this, Sheet name is not showing as 'Sheet1$' in the Table or Query tab in the Dynamic Input tool. 

I cannot attach the file or the workflow as it is confidential.

Kindly check and help me with the solution.

Thanks and Best regards,

Teja.

[leofrancia]

Hi @bertal34 ,

Found the gremlin I think. This is because the XLSX is generated and has a prefix x: in all the tags in the Shared String XML embedded in Excel. See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/open-xml/working-with-the-shared-string-table 

In simpler terms, Alteryx is not able to read generated Excel sheets which has the prefix "x:" (e.g. from a bot). See below for some more investigation on this. The second file which has been opened and saved in Excel manually can be read by Alteryx correctly - but I do get that the open and re-saving step is inconvenient.

I would suggest to open a support case or have this added as an "Idea" (https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Ideas/idb-p/product-ideas).

[bertal34]

Hi @leofrancia ,

Thank you for getting back to me quickly and for the clear explanation!  How did you go about viewing those XML tags in notepad?

[leofrancia]

Hi, @bertal34. You can open the XLSX file as a zip archive by changing the XLSX extension to ZIP.  You will get a warning that it may become unusable but you can ignore this.

Then you can navigate to .\xl\ directory where you can find sharedStrings.xml. See below for how it would look like when you are navigating the ZIP file. An XLSX file is essentially a zip archive with various contents. :)

[Still]

you may try to change xlsx to xls and see. That's how I solve this error on my laptop

[jsun_06]

If you are generating the .xlsx file from UiPath (rpa bot) then use the Excel activities (Excel Process Scope, Use Excel File, Save Excel File As) instead of read range/write range activities.

[Rajendrasharma]

There were multiple files.  Saved each one of them again in xlsx format and rerun was successful.  Worth trying it

[ChrisK]

This is a helpful example. Can we get a larger example with more rows and columns, and some different data types?

What tool is producing these files? I've heard that they're produced by "a bot" but what software is in the bot?

[JoeCat]

Old post but i dont see any firm solutions so just sharing what resolved mine.  I had the same error, it was an XLSX file that is generated by and synced with Office Forms, it lives on OneDrive (which likely doesnt matter).  But I am unable to do any other fix that suggests to modify the file, because the file is synced.  The same error for me seemed to be caused by simply having the file open.   I unknowingly had it open in Browser, not in Excel.  If open in Excel you get the typical error about it being unavailable.  But when it was open in the browser I got this same error.  Closing resolved it.