Parse Error When Connecting to XLSX File

[Chris_]

I have a MS Excel xlsx file I'm trying to bring into Alteryx and whenever I connect to it I get the following error:

"Corrupt File: XML parse failure - cell has no column definition"

However, I have no issues opening this file in MS Excel or other ETL toolsets. 

The file has about 15 tabs, no special characters in worksheet or workbook names, and no merged columns/rows. 

This file is an auto-export from a source system and the only format that is available is xlsx.

Any thoughts would be very helpful.

[Aguisande]

Hi @Chris_

Do a simple test for me please: rename your .XLSX file to .XLS and try again.

Or change the Excel type to Excel Legacy.

[Chris_]

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@Aguisande wrote:

Hi @Chris_

Do a simple test for me please: rename your .XLSX file to .XLS and try again.

Or change the Excel type to Excel Legacy.

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Changing the file type from XLSX to XLS does nothing to eliminate the error.

When I change the type in the connector to Excel Legacy it doesn't give the error but it brings in an entire sheet of nulls (even though it does bring in the correct number of columns and rows though).

[Aguisande]

Can you post a copy of your file to see what may be happening?

[Chris_]

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@Aguisande wrote:

Can you post a copy of your file to see what may be happening?

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Unfortunately I cannot as it contains confidential information and if I wipe out the data the issue goes away. 

[Aguisande]

Sorry to hear that.

Maybe updating the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 could help.

Additionally, how about creating a named range within Excel and connect to it?

[Raghu_s]

He @Aguisandey! Am running into the same issue and am not able to rectify the issue. any sort of help would be appreciated. 

what happens post this driver installation? Which excel mode to be chosen for reading in files .xls or .xlsx or .xlsx(legacy) or .xlsm

On a side note, there is a catch while defining formats. An .xls file doesn't have a Start Data Import on Line option available where as an .xlsx file has. So what do you do when you run into such issues? 

Very much looking forward to hear on this. 

[Aguisande]

Hi @Raghu_s

As far as I see, you already installed the drivers (The .accdb file type is present in the list of options).

For .xls files, the Microsoft driver uses the old Jet database engine. To accomplish the "Start import on Line X" feature, I would recommend to use a SAMPLE tool, just after you read the file.

Just fill the number of records you should skip in the N option.

For .xlsx files, I always use the Microsoft Excel option. Sometimes, it happens (mostly with automated exports from some systems) that you may need to open the file within Excel to see what's happening with its format.

Excel error messages opening the files should help to find what to do (and sometimes, you need to re- save the file from Excel)

[Chris_]

Unfortunately the only thing we got to work was a manual process where we'd open the exported file, copy all the data, paste it into another tab, then delete the original tab.  That would prevent the error from appearing. 

[Raghu_s]

Hello! 

Sorry was not here for a while. So the file had some version issues that was preventing us from processing the files. Anyhow none of the techniques worked and I have changed the downstream application to provide the same file in csv format. 

PS: The same file works completely fine with similar tool like Talend ETL tool. in the future if you happen to face the above error kindly notify. I'm keen to understand how Alteryx interprets the files.