Error When Exporting Access Report to Excel

November 6, 2006 10:07 AM

Some colleagues are trying to export a MS Access report to Excel. Here's the error they get:

Microsoft Office Excel File Repair Log

Errors were detected in file 'C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\My Documents\Report - Urgency.xls'
The following is a list of repairs:

Damage to the file was so extensive that repairs were not possible. Excel attempted to recover your formulas and values, but some data may have been lost or corrupted.

The error also mentions a repair log txt file that ends up being empty.

They are using the same version # of Access and Excel.

Any ideas on how to begin troubleshooting?

posted by ao4047 to computers & internet (4 comments total)

I'd start by looking at the file in a text editor. Is the file approximately the appropriate size? Or is it miniscule, like a few hundred bytes?
posted by wzcx at 10:26 AM on November 6, 2006

I've never tried this software, but it might be an option (note: it ain't free, but it's cheap).
posted by JPowers at 11:16 AM on November 6, 2006

Is the excel file you are exporting to existing, or generated by Access on the fly? If it is a pre-existing report, check this.

It could be something similar. The gist of it, is that when you use (in that example) transferspreadsheet, the excel file goes completely bonkers if there are certain types of data already in the excel file. Remove the offending data from the workbook before transferring from Access to Excel, and you are set.

So, if you are attempting to export this report into a larger excel file, try exporting it first into a blank one.

If this excel file is one that is generated on the fly by Access, the above is not too useful.
posted by BleachBypass at 1:31 PM on November 6, 2006

My buddies that I wrote this for respond:

I've reviewed the comments on the post, and some might help, some might not.

I'm going back to front on the comments, as the only one really worth discussing is the first. The last, talking about a pre-existing report, doesn't really apply - at least not that I'm aware of. When we run the export, it does create a report file in XLS, and I suppose it is possible that it is trying to reimport data to the same file it tried to create before. I don't think this is too likely since I've gone in and deleted some of those files before rerunning it, and gotten the same error whether they've been deleted or not. The second comment, about checking out not-free-but-cheap software, I think can be shelved for the moment. When I tried searching and troubleshooting this issue on my own, I found more than a few links to similar bits of software, all claiming to be better and cheaper than the next.

The first post looked the most promising:

"I'd start by looking at the file in a text editor. Is the file approximately the appropriate size? Or is it miniscule, like a few hundred bytes?"

Now, about this, I have a few questions… Which file - the exported XLS, or the Access database before we run the export report? The Access file is pretty significant (a few meg - ~6 or so), and the report that comes out of it is substantial itself. However, is there something specific or even noteworthy that we can look for in that editor? We can crack it open and look for something, but unless it's going to leap out from the records at a glance, we might need a hint as to what, in broad terms, we might be looking for. As for the exported file, what would an appropriate size be? This actually might be a question best left in CNA, since you all may have a past example of one of the successful reports, and can say with more certainty how big we should see.
posted by ao4047 at 11:21 AM on November 10, 2006