New Excel workbooks (created in SharePoint library) not launching in app - .xlsx "extension is not valid"

Alan Walker 20 Reputation points
2024-04-16T01:29:14.2533333+00:00

Hi there,

 

Having a recent issue in some SharePoint sites - in Document Libraries, using the (default) New > Excel Workbook action gives the error when launching the app: "Excel cannot open the file 'Book.xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid".

thumbnail image 1 of blog post titled New Excel workbooks not launching in app - .xlsx "extension is not valid"

  • There is some inherited managed metadata in the library but I can't see any issue here and thats been in place for a while. 
  • Site/Library Permissions have been checked and no issues found.
  • Excel files that were already in the library don't experience this issue (Excel opens successfully).
  • It doesn't happen if we upload a .xlsx file to the document library. (Excel opens successfully).
  • Excel Files launch fine in the browser. Having tested changing the default to "open in browser" this did temporarily resolve the issue and files created under this setting were then able to launch in the app. However this is not most users' preferred setting.

Can anyone advise what the root cause might be and how we can get newly generated .xlsx workbooks launching in Excel as normal?

 

Thanks,

Alan

Excel
Excel
A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.
1,476 questions
SharePoint
SharePoint
A group of Microsoft Products and technologies used for sharing and managing content, knowledge, and applications.
9,679 questions

1 answer

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  1. Haoyan Xue_MSFT 19,871 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2024-04-16T09:06:40.6433333+00:00

    Hi @Alan Walker ,

    Thank you for posting in this community.

    It seems this is not a common issue per my test. However, we can work together to narrow down and resolve the situation. So, Please kindly provide more information below to let us work further.

    1.You could try to clear browser cache then restart it.

    2.Try to use a different browser or your browser's InPrivate mode to see if the same error occurs.

    3.Are other users with permissions facing the same problem? View through another computer or account.

    4.Whether all SharePoint libraries have the same problem? You could create a new SharePoint library to check.

    5.Check if the same issue occurs with other SharePoint site collections.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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