Excel could not open data file

Cheryl Boneham
Cheryl Boneham Member Posts: 17 ✭
edited July 2020 in Accounts Hosted
When exporting report I'm getting the error- Excel could not open data file.  I'm using Microsoft 2019 and Opera.  This was working for a month ago but when I went to do this month I get this message.

Comments

  • Rav
    Rav Administrator, Reckon Staff Posts: 15,087 Community Manager Community Manager
    edited April 2019
    Hi Cheryl,
    Can you please exit your file by going to File > Exit and then ending your active session in the Hosted control panel. Once that is done logout and then retry after a couple of minutes.
    Does the same issue occur after doing this?
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  • sabina_10464941
    sabina_10464941 Member Posts: 1 ✭
    edited February 2020
    Hi,
    I have the same problem, "excel could not open the date file" and I have tried quitting, reopening etc many times, ending the active session everything and I still get the same message.

  • JulieH
    JulieH Member Posts: 2 ✭
    edited July 2020
    I'm getting the same thing and it's been happening for ages - every quarter when I go to do BAS's I have the same issue and it's getting really annoying having to log in and out again all the time. 

    It also plays up when I try to export to an existing file. I get the message: "Excel does not permit exporting to a protected or shared worksheet or adding a sheet to a protected workbook.  Use the Excel Tools menu to change the workbook or worksheet setting and then try to export the report again". 

    There is something wrong with the excel function for this to keep happening.

    I use Firefox at home and Internet Explorer at the client's place and it happens in both. I"m not trying the new Microsoft Edge and it was OK, but I just got the error again while exporting to an existing file - I'd just done 5 reports but it failed on the 6th.

  • bridget
    bridget Member Posts: 1 ✭

    Hi there

    I also got this error 'Excel could not open the data file'. I had exported a number of files during the same session and then Reckon wouldn't export anymore.

    I always close Reckon using File, Close Company/Log off. I am using Microsoft Office 365 and the latest version of Google Chrome.

    Reckon - any idea of when this issue will be resolved as it appears to have been happening for awhile?

  • John Graetz
    John Graetz Member Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭

    This is definitely a problem which happens on and off over a long period of time. Fortunately I have not experienced the problem for perhaps a couple of years now.

    Kevin, I have to disagree with you about it being a wrong file association. As reported by Bridget, she had been successfully exporting files and then all of a sudden she couldn't. That has been my same experience as well in the past - was working and then suddenly stopped working for no apparent reason. I did persist, possibly by changing browsers, and got it working again after some effort. This seems to be an intermittent bug of some description.

    I have previously discussed this same issue in this forum in the past.

    John L G

  • John Graetz
    John Graetz Member Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭

    Happy NY to you too, Kevin. The problem, when it occurs, is the final step in the export process i.e.

    1. Report on screen, then hit the Export button
    2. Select say a new Excel workbook
    3. Click on the Export button.

    It is at this point that the error message appears and the export is unable to be completed. From memory it only happens on the Hosted platform. The error is random, as mentioned. From memory, on one occasion that this happened for me, I had exported one report and then the next one refused, no matter how many times I tried. It is a while since this happened, so I cannot quite remember what I did to get it to work. It may have been to use Reckon in another browser or it could have been that I re-started my computer, but I was eventually able to get the export to work eventually after numerous attempts.

    I don't know what testing has been done, but being random, it could be difficult to isolate. Possibly the last time that this happened, I had a discussion about it with Rav, but this could be two years ago now and it hasn't happened to me in recent times.

    I had had this happen to me on a number of occasions, hence the reason that I tried a number of alternatives to get the thing to work.

    John L G

  • John Graetz
    John Graetz Member Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭

    No, I didn't Kevin. John L G

  • renee_10863321
    renee_10863321 Member Posts: 1 ✭

    Any work arounds as I keep having this problem on and off exatly as others have descibed it and it is sending me crazy?

  • Bev_6934826
    Bev_6934826 Member Posts: 11 ✭

    A solution would be to export the report as a comma separated values (.csv) file instead of an excel workbook, then save the report as an excel workbook. A little annoying & not ideal but at least it's a fix

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