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Output to Excel error

MsBindy
8 - Asteroid

I have several workflows that are sending output to an Excel file.  When I open the Excel file I always get a message "We found a problem with some content..." Do you want us to recover as much as we can?...."     I always answer "Yes" and then I get a message about the repairs to the file which always says "Removed Records: Formula from /xl/calcChain.xml part"

 

I have no idea what any of that means.  I'm able to use the excel file, and run the macros in it.  However, I'd like to avoid those messages if I can before I hand these files off to someone else.

47 REPLIES 47
MarqueeCrew
20 - Arcturus
20 - Arcturus

@MsBindy,

 

If you simplify the workflow to take data from a text input tool and write it to the output file, you could export (options -> export workflow) and post the yxzp file to the community for us to take a look at.  Macros in the workbook are something that I avoid.  I like a clean xlsx file and am weary of xlsm files.

 

Cheers,

Mark

Alteryx ACE & Top Community Contributor

Chaos reigns within. Repent, reflect and restart. Order shall return.
Please Subscribe to my youTube channel.
MsBindy
8 - Asteroid

Thanks...Let me trim it down some.  I'm kind of new to this and have created a monstrosity of a workflow.  I'll try to make a much more simple case.  The reason for the macros in the outputted Excel files is that I'm formatting them to send out to a client.  The reporting tools in Alteryx are currently way above my current skill level. 

MsBindy
8 - Asteroid

@MarqueeCrew;  thanks so much for the help.  Your observation about the behavior of Excel when dropping the sheet prompted me to do a little checking on the Excel side.  I discovered by adding this little bit to programmatically open and repair my Excel file, the errors disappeared;; the file opens clean, and the macros run.

 

Sub Import_Click()

 Application.DisplayAlerts = False

 Workbooks.Open "filepath/filename.xlsm", CorruptLoad:=XlCorruptLoad.xlRepairFile

 End Sub

MarqueeCrew
20 - Arcturus
20 - Arcturus

@MsBindy (Donna),

 

Glad to be of assistance to you.  That code is something that others might benefit from.

 

Keep up the good work and enjoy your alteryx license.

 

Cheers,

Mark

Alteryx ACE & Top Community Contributor

Chaos reigns within. Repent, reflect and restart. Order shall return.
Please Subscribe to my youTube channel.
Paul_L
8 - Asteroid

 

I've just received the same error but not in a macro enabled workbook.  Similarly the excel output seems to be ok, is this an issue with Alteryx?

 

Thanks,

Paul

Inactive User
Not applicable

I'm sorry... but THAT might be a remedy, but it is NOT A SOLUTION.  This is a bug in Alteryx and needs to be addressed by ALTERYX.  There is no reason the OUTPUT to an EXCEL MACRO file should have this kind of error.

ALTERYX .... FIX THIS.

jacqgeek
5 - Atom

How long is your output Excel sheet name? I got the same error due to running out of the maximum of the length of Excel sheet name.

 

MsBindy
8 - Asteroid

I don't remember how long the sheet name was,  but that's an interesting idea.

dylanStone1
5 - Atom

I'm having the same problem when my workflow tries to overwrite an existing excel workbook file. I have a workflow where I union some Text Input values with the rest of the values I'm trying to output. If I configure the Output Data Tool to Create New Sheet, it writes the output correctly (however, it still has the error message "We have found a problem with the content..." when opening the excel file even after the very first time running the workflow). However, if I configure the Output Data Tool to Overwrite File (Remove), then in addition to the excel error message upon opening said file, the only values written to the excel file are the test values from the Text Input Tool, and none from the actual workflow. This is a workflow that we plan to run once daily and I'd like it to be able to overwrite the file with the updated values each time I run it rather than have to create a new file every time.

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