Cannot attach excel as a tab in a team

Question

Hi All,

It looks that when I try to attach an excel its redering the desktop view in the modal that pops up on both the desktop and browser versions. Any help or this a widespreed bug?

Answer 1

Hi Mathieu Jenkinson,

From what I understand based on your description and the image you sent, the issue you're facing is that the area you circled in red within the Excel file selection window doesn't allow you to navigate to your desired SharePoint site or other storage locations, is that correct?

I've tried to replicate this on my test environment. I noticed that sometimes the mouse cursor wasn't effective for navigating up/down or selecting items. Instead, I tried using the up/down arrow keys on the keyboard to move the selection, and then pressed Enter to choose the desired SharePoint site. Once I reached the correct location, I was able to select the Excel file and add it as a tab.

I'm not sure if I've fully understood your exact problem, but could you please try using the arrow keys and the Enter key to navigate within that section and see if it helps?

Looking forward to your response.

Sincerely,  
Jeanie-H - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist.

Answer 2

Hi Mathieu Jenkinson, 

Thank you for reaching out to us. I'm glad to help you! 

First, based on your description and the image you provided, I understand that the issue you are experiencing is when you try to attach an Excel file as a tab in Microsoft Teams, the pop-up modal, instead of showing a list of Excel files for you to choose from, displays a "Documents/General" folder structure, and this issue occurs on both the desktop Teams application and the browser version. 

I have attempted to test this on my own Teams environment. I uploaded an Excel file to a channel I created. When I performed the "Add a tab" (+) action and selected "Excel," the system displayed a list of my most recent Excel files (not a folder structure like in your case), and I was then able to successfully add the file as a tab. 

To assist you more effectively, could you please help me clarify or provide the following details:

• Could you please confirm if this is an work Teams account right?
• What is your role in the channel where you are trying to add the Excel tab (Owner, Member, Guest)? Have you successfully added an Excel tab in this channel before, or is this the first time you've encountered this situation?
• Is Excel file uploaded directly to the channel’s Files tab?
• Have you tried performing this action in another channel where you are an owner or an active member? This will help determine if the issue is limited to a specific team/channel.
• Are there any other members in the same channel who are experiencing a similar issue?
• What type of channel are you trying to attach the Excel file to (Standard channel, Private channel, Shared channel)?
• Have you tried uploading a new Excel file to that channel, and then tried to add that file as a tab? If so, was the result similar?
• What troubleshooting steps have you already attempted to resolve this issue?

Please understand that our initial response may not always resolve the issue right away. But with your help and a bit more detail, I'll try my best to help you.

Looking forward to your reply!

Sincerely,  
Jeanie-H - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist.

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply Jeanie-H,

Answering you questions:

• This is a teams work account
• I am an owner of the channel
• I have added an excel in another channel before but not this one (this didn't happen for the other one, at the time)
• The file isn't in the channel its in a shared sharepoint documnet library, but I can't navigate to it anyway
• I have treid to do it in another channel with the same issue
• I have confirmed this issue happens with a colleague too
• The issue still persists, there is already a bunch of excel wookrbook in there already too
• In terms of troubleshooting I tried reinstalling the mac app, using the browser and neither worked.

I am not sure if its related but I have two options called excel one does the issue I orginally posted (white background icon) and the other (dark green background) just shows a blank screen.

Answer 4

Hi Mathieu Jenkinson,

Thank you for providing the additional information regarding the issue. To help me assist you better, please provide more details on the following two points:

• You mentioned: "The file isn't in the channel its in a shared SharePoint document library, but I can't navigate to it anyway."

Could you please tell me what error you encountered when trying to access that shared SharePoint document library?

If there was any error message displayed, please take a screenshot and send it to me.

• You also stated that when "creating a new Excel file and uploading it to the channel, the issue still persists, and there are already many Excel files in there."

Could you please provide screenshots of the steps you take when attempting to add this newly uploaded Excel file as a tab?.

These images and detailed information will be very helpful for me to better understand the issue flow and find a suitable solution.

Thank you very much. I'm truly appreciate your patience. Looking forward to your response!

Sincerely,  
Jeanie-H - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist.

Answer 5

Thanks for the reply, Jeanie.

I will try to be more clearer.

The issue is it doesn't matter where the excel file is hosted I can't navigate to it beacuse the view pane once I click the (plus icon) for the excel app is rendering the destop version and won't let me navigate. Even the screenshot you sent me has the issue. I have taken another screenshot and annotated it. The only navigable part is show in blue and the part in red I cannot scroll to other teams/SharePoint sites. There is no error its just a terrible interface for navigation.