Excel showing as #REF - excel

I am using mac laptop. There is an excel sent to my team by another person and windows users are able to see the data without any issues but when i open most of the fields show as #REF!. Any idea how i can resolve this?
UPDATE:
Weirdly , when i opened another excel which is connecting to DB and getting the data and then opened the above mentioned excel then i do not see #REF! error anymore. Values are getting displayed.
Now, if i close both excels and open the original excel then i see the #REF! again.
Only when the excel connecting to DB is opened and then the original excel is opened, the values are displayed.
I don't understand what is happening.

It is not a bug. It is just how excel work. As you had said :
the excel connecting to DB is opened and then the original excel is opened, the values are displayed.
For some reason excel do need the source file to be opened to 'load' its value. Somehow (in my case) using the " Data > Get External Data " can work without the source file being opened. (maybe this answers Any idea how i can resolve this?).
Anyway, please share if the Get External Data works for u or not. (also mention your excel version).

Related

Microsoft Excel keeps repairing my .xlsm file for no apparent reason and eliminates data validations on a sheet

I recently created an automated Excel utility (using Microsoft Office 2019), in which I've extensively used data validations, VBA code, named ranges and formatting. It was working well until one day I received an Excel prompt message that read:
When I click on Yes, it gives me another pop-up where it says it recovered the file, and also gives me a link to the error log XML file. I click on it and open the .xml file using my default browser, and it shows the following details:
Looks like it is removing data validations from a particular sheet, and I realize that is true when I navigate to that sheet in the UI. To work around this unwarranted and repeated data-validation removal that Excel application is enforcing, I created a macro code that will re-instate all these data validations as required. The real problem arises when this Excel file is opened on a different computer with Microsoft Office 365. Looks like it is removing not just data-validations but also other components like named ranges and buttons. There could be other things that it might be removing, which I am unaware of at the moment. So the macro created to re-instate the data-validations is no longer useful.
Why does this problem arise? And why is different version of Excel behaving differently? How do I solve this? Appreciate your kind help. Thank you!
As rightly suggested by Ron Rosenfeld and e_conomics, the issue was with the data validation lists, whose sources were strings of comma separated values that were going beyond 255 characters. Apparently, that is a limitation with Excel.
When I replaced the sources of data validation lists (string of comma separated values) with the ranges containing the corresponding values, the problem resolved itself. The repair dialogue never appeared again.

View removed VBA code after repair of Excel file

I am getting an error when opening excel: We found a problem with some content in XXX. Do you want us to try and recover as much as we can? if you trust he source of this workbook, click Yes."
clicking Yes, "fixes" the issue but deletes a lot of VBA code, two weeks worth.
Whatever the issue it was introduced yesterday, I do not want to redo two weeks worth of coding. Is there anyway I can view what was removed, or open the VBA in notepad++ or something without opening the excel?
I opened another excel workbook and tried all the different options for the argument XlCorruptLoad in the Workbooks.Open to open the corrupt workbook. I noticed that there were two non existing sheets created in the project explroer of the corrupt workbook that had the code in there. I am not sure if it did that s a result of what I did or it was there all along and I did not notice it
Note that the reason I had a corrupted data is because the code was extracting a list and putting it in a cell validation formula..i guess I overloaded it.

VBA Module disappears after saving Excel workbook

I was just introduced to VBA. However, on saving my first excel file with VBA code, with .xlsm extension (I was advised to do so), and then reopening that saved file, I realized that all the VBA code had disappeared and the cells in which I had used the user-defined functions threw errors. Saving the workbook as .xlsx instead of .xlsm also didn't help. When I tried saving the VBA module, it showed that FUNCRES.XLAM is read-only and hence cannot be modified, and so try saving it at a different location. Doing so, saved an excel file which on opening showed a pop-up message that it's corrupt so can't be opened. Then I gave all permissions to FUNCRES.XLAM and it is NOT read-only. But the problem still prevailed. What should I do? Can someone please help me?
PS: It is Windows 10, Office 2016.
Your VBA code needs to be saved in a module within the same workbook in which you are working. This will probably be listed as VBAProject(Book1)
There will likely be other projects listed in the Project Explorer window of the VBA GUI, but your code will not get saved with those modules.
These are related to add-ins, and not to your workbook.

Excel Error: Removed Records: Sorting from /xl/worksheets/sheet10.xml part

I'm almost sure I will have to create a new excel file, but maybe at least here I get some ideas what was the source of the problem.
My excel file is constantly giving the following error:
Excel found unreadable content in 'filename.xlsm'. Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes.
So I do. And the file opens as repaired showing:
Removed Records: Sorting from /xl/worksheets/sheet10.xml part.
The detail is that I don't even have a sheet10
Its a big excel file full of custom-objects. But I have no DB connections or autofilter so could not relate to AutoFilter Criteria Using Array (Error) - Too Large String? or xlsx error: "Removed Records: Named range from /xl/workbook.xml part" when tried to resolve errors.
Anyone has a clue what's going on?
tks in advance
try clearing the sort before saving down the workbook. When this happened to me I had my sheet references mixed up so the sort wasn't cleared
Sheets(yoursheetname).Sort.SortFields.Clear
I am afraid I cannot explain what is going on, but I had similar experience several times - always with XLSM file. In the latest case I learnt that Excel did not like the same range name used twice, when defined as Worksheet range name (we assumed it is safe to use it that way).
Our troubleshooting path is:
try to save file as XLSB (binary macro file) and either use XLSB file or save it back to XLSM
check file history (we always keep daily snapshots) and find when the problem firstly occurred; use previous version and port your changes
extract the code (via SVN code), create a new workbook and import the code back
Usually Step 1 solves the problem, but Step 3 never failed us.
Awesome,
This issue has been driving me crazy!
It seems that saving as the xlsb (binary) file PLUS adding the clearing of sort fields appears to have sorted out my issue.
I added the following code to the BeforeClose sub, it appears to clear the fields really quick, changes to my Dashboard and prompts for saving.
The xlsb file saved over a mb in file size and appears to load a little quicker!
Thanks for the pointers & support!
Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
Dim Sht As Worksheet
' Clear all Sort Fields prior to Save & Exit
For Each Sht In Application.Worksheets
Sht.Sort.SortFields.Clear
Next Sht
aa1_Dashboard1.Select
aa1_Dashboard1.Activate
End Sub
I would like to add my own confirmation regarding clearing sort fields in your spreadsheet, as first suggested by Chris. I specifically had the error occur after I used column sorting in a VBA macro, so I deduced that the problem must be column/field-Sort related. It was.
Adding the line:
Sheets(yoursheetname).Sort.SortFields.Clear
after the sort command allowed the sorted columns to remain sorted (in my case), but cleared whatever was causing the
"Sorting from /xl/worksheets/sheet10.xml part." error when the file was next opened.
Many thanks for your support.
I don't know if this will help anyone but it's solved my problem. I had an excel sheet, nothing complex, just contacts, a much used file in Excel 2010 on Win7. Today I was using the 'filter' to select specific groups to email targeted content to. In the middle of selecting and copying to paste into Outlook, the document came up with a pop up as if I was installing something, then the 'installer' both of which I cancelled out of. The Document closed and then on trying to reopen, I was getting the error message. If I chose 'yes' to repair I was given just the subset of my filtered list, so about 40 of my 350 records, the rest lost. I googled and tried different things, including opening in Googledocs google sheets and nothing worked. I never 'saved' the repaired version as my old data wasn't in that. Just now, I right clicked on my document in explorer and chose "restore previous versions" and it brought me to the version of yesterday - thankfully, nothing added to it since then. Opened that one and bingo, it opened fine with ALL the data in it. I know the filter had corrupted it, so will be cautious next time I use it. I don't know why it doesn't like the filter but 4 hours on, i can now calm down and relax! Hope this helps someone.
was having this issue as well. I have a spreadsheet with multiple tabs (maybe 30 tabs?) and had filters on each sheet, and shared on SharedPoint. The error was not enabling editing of the file on SharePoint. I removed the filters on every sheet and uploaded back to SharePoint and the issue is gone!
I did what Chris mentioned above. Clear the sort fields in your spreadsheet.
Sheets(yoursheetname).Sort.SortFields.Clear
Also, save the file as *.xlsb.
That should get it to work.
When you get a message telling that Excel found unreadable.... just click "Open" and then close all the following messages you get.
-In the VBE open the project showing the name of Addin or the .xlsm.. the click anywhere in any module of the workbook as you are going to edit the text of the macro, then click save, select workbook type like Addin select the folder where you want to save it, give it a new name then click "Save", that is all you have to do, the new file you created will ok.

Excel workbook not responding

I am using Excel 2010 and am having difficulty with one old workbook created in Excel 2003. Lots of symptoms to report!
No other workbooks are giving me this problem. This problem file usually causes "MS Excel - (workbook name.xls) [Compatibility Mode] (Not responding) and a blank screen apart from the task bar and this Excel message on a single line across the top of the screen. Waiting doesn't solve the problem. If I close Excel and choose the "Close program" option, it sometimes shows me the file as I remember it for a couple of seconds, then the program closes. Re-opening the file just gives the same behaviour again. During the first few seconds of loading, I can see the message "Contacting server for information" at the bottom of the Excel screen.
In Task Manager I can find EXCEL.EXE *32 running. I'm using Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.
This is a file I use regularly in projects as a specialised calculator, and so I re-copy it each time and save it to save the calculation records in the project file. I've found that versions of the workbook created even several years ago and have given no trouble until now all suffer this problem, so it looks like a problem with Excel 2010. This is the first time I've tried to open these files since migrating from a Win XP computer running Excel 2003.
Please can anyone help me to open the file and to resolve the problem?
Thanks
There might be a calculation or a marcro activated on start up that messes things up.
Try the following:
Open the Excel application, with a blank workbook. Set calculation to manual. Now look up your Macro settings and set these to "disable with notifications".
With these things set, open your misbehaving workbook again and see what happens now. Dont let the macros (if any) start yet! Open the VBA Editor window and check for a script in Workbook called Workbook_Open. If that is present check its content or put a break in and debug it.
Let us know what you find, if any.
UPDATE:
It sounds like there is a database link to an external source that is trying to refresh on startup but isnt working correctly (anymore). I now remember likewise behaviour when I had an Excel workbook with tons of SQL queries in it that (in case of showing a complete table or view by applying SELECT * FROM ...) could overlap other data and that would create autoshutdowns for me. Change the option in the Trust Center for External Content to Disable when you open this workbook and let us know!
I have a client with the same issue. The problem was resolved by removing all the logo's (Images) from the sheet. It appears that the logo contains a link to some web site. I copied the logo into paint and copied it back.
Problem Solved!
It appears that an object placed in the sheet can have its own links embedded in it???
I hope this helps!

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