XML Import Error - Data Source Not Found

Question

Hey everyone - 

I'm usually pretty good at troubleshooting excel - often with help from this forum - but I can't seem to crack this one.

I have a few excel docs where I create a web query and pull data 'From Web'. The data is in XML tables in my docs. When neccesary, I hit refresh on the XML table and get the new, updated data.

I've done this for years without issue, but a few months ago I hit a snag and I can't resolve it. The big mistake I made was using CCCleaner, which "repaired" my registry, but I failed to backup said registry. Since that point, I get errors when I try to refresh these query XML tables. The error is as follows: "XML Import Error - Data Source not found - Import Status Failed". No further details.

Oddly enough, if I close the file and open it on my laptop, I can refresh without issue. In fact, sometimes when I close excel and open it back up, I can refresh the tables fine. A few hours later, however, it fails again.

I tried system restore. I've tried repairing excel. I've tried completely rebuilding this file. No dice.

Any help here would be massively appreciated. Thank you.

Details: PC - Windows 7 Prof - Office H&S 2013 - 64 bit

Answer 1

Hi Mike,

Your Excel question is more complex than what is typically answered in the Microsoft Answers forums. It is better suited for the IT Pro audience on TechNet. Please post your question in the TechNet Forum.

Regards.

Answer 2

Hi there,

I am facing the exact same issue. Was yours ever resolved?

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

Answer 3

Hello,

We would like to know if you've have tried the suggestion of Roan T. Microsoft TechNet forum is a community of developers and well experienced technology practitioners.

Don’t hesitate to inform us if you have any other concerns.

Answer 4

Yes, I did. There was minimal response and the ones I did get were extremely generic and not helpful, unfortunately. 

This seems to be a bizarre issue that quite a few people have had, but there is no resolution.

Answer 5

Hi Mike, hi Regile,

I have had the same experience. Repeated searches are not producing any tangible results - and the issue very reliable occurs with any Excelsheet that has XML embedded directly from an online source.

I have noticed one thing, however: If I expand the "Source" column in the Import Error message box all the way to the end, my XML Source is cut off after a set number of characters, i.e. the cutoff point varies depending on the number of characters between api.workflowmax.com and apiKey.

Could it be that this is a genuine bug in Excel affecting long XML URLs?

Thanks in advance for some meaningful feedback.

Cheers,

Stefan