topic Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding in ArcGIS Survey123 Questions

Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

ChipBrownHBG — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 16:42:09 GMT

We have created and been using successfully a survey published through Survey 123 on the web. Every day, we need to download the survey results as an Excel file. Most days this works, but some days the export does not function: no file is exported and the download indicator arrows next to the "exporting" button just spin.

A file is created in ArcGIS Online, but when I download it and try to open it, I get the message "Excel cannot open the file '[filename].xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file."

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

DougBrowning — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 17:22:30 GMT

This happens to be Exporting as a GDB also on the regular. Esp if the file is larger like 10 GB. Also sometimes I get a file but it is corrupt. We have some that will be 40 GB next year so I get worried.

This is prob a AGOL issue though not a 123 issue.

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

MelissaMiracle1 — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 14:41:56 GMT

I am having the same issue downloading the data as an Excel file in Enterprise Portal.

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

ChipBrownHBG — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 17:54:45 GMT

Melissa:

I never really had a definitive answer to this, but it did resolve itself I think. Not much of an answer, but I wanted to respond so you were not left hanging.

Chip

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

bshepard — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 21:01:37 GMT

@ChipBrownHBG Is this still working for you, and has it been working consistently? We published a survey recently with very few data records and I'm having the same issue (exporting icon just keeps spinning and the .xlsx and .zip (.csv) exports that appear in my AGOL content are invalid). I can't imagine my issue is related to file size with just 7 records of text/numeric data.

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

bshepard — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 22:07:45 GMT

I may have answered my own question to some degree. I finally just let the export run and it completed after 15-20 minutes. Another user noted the same thing. After that first successful Excel export, subsequent exports only take a few seconds for both of us. Any ideas why the time to export varies so dramatically (i.e., 20 minutes or 5 seconds)? Is it at all related to the first export for each user?

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

ChipBrownHBG — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 20:02:27 GMT

Sorry for delay, Brian. The information you provide is helpful. I have not heard of this issue cropping up for our folks since it resolved itself. Someone else will need to chime in regarding the variability in time for processing.

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

bshepard — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 22:24:13 GMT

No worries. Wonder if we had a similar experience and after waiting for it to complete once, it just magically seems to work now. I'll keep an eye out as we deploy additional surveys and export data.

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

ZachBodenner — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 19:57:19 GMT

Hi, I just wanted to report that I experienced this issue when I was trying to export an excel file from my Survey123 web manager when the report was based on a referenced and published sde feature class/table. However, I didn't experience it when it was based on a survey that I built independently of any pre-existing feature class. Think that might be related to your issue at all?

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

abubakarkamara — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 08:44:46 GMT

Hello,

I also got the same problem. Tried to export to CSV, Shapefile, Excel, or Geodatabase from the Survey123 Website and none seem to work. The only method I did to acquire the excel data from the survey was opening the survey's feature service layer in ArcGIS Pro and then using the "Table to Excel" tool. To me, this method is too long.

Re: Survey 123 - exporting data not responding

SarahRijneke — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 20:25:19 GMT

Anyone find a fix for this? I'm able to export an excel (.xlsx) file from the data tab in the Survey123 web designer when I'm not on our VPN. My coworker, who is in the office and on our corporate network, was able to download the excel table but cannot open it. They forwarded me the file and I am also unable to open it. The error says Excel cannot open the file 'xyz' because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file.