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Excel spreadsheet update not updating in PRO

JeanetteHarlow1

When I update and save an xlsx sheet, the changes are not reflected in Arc GIS PRO. Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone found a specific method to making the changes reflect?

I usually have to turn off PRO and then restart the program for the changes to be reflected. That said, recently I noticed that even turning off the software and restarting that the changes don't reflect in PRO.

Please note, I make the change in excel. I save the file. I close Excel.

In PRO I remove the old sheet from the Contents pane and refresh the homefile the spreadsheet is in. I also refresh the folder the spreadsheet is in. And I do this in a variety of order.

It also seems that just being patient does not work.

I have had this problem for many PRO versions and currently am running 2.5.0

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Wayne_Rennick

Look for a geoprocessing tool to refresh Excel. I don't know when it was implemented but it solves a lot of the issues.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/data-management/refresh-excel.htm

VilleJärvinen

With ArcGIS Pro 3.2.1 (21-03-2025) the bug is still there. Adding data from an edited Excel file does not read the data from the Excel file, rather ArcGIS Pro adds outdated data from some unknown cache. The Excel file needs to be renamed for ArcGIS Pro to actually update the data.

Wayne_Rennick

I'm super confused by what's going on here. So, does ArcGIS Pro make a copy of the excel sheets when they are added to the project? What other file types also have this behavior? This is not how it worked in ArcMap. (this is not better)

We all know that Excel isn't the best place to store data, BUT it's used all the time in organizations when collaborating between different people. So, it's crazy to make us remove the tables (and any joins that have been created) to have ArcGIS Pro see the data.

Bud

I've seen the same issue in Pro 3.2.1 very recently. I refreshed the Excel file in Catalog, but it had no effect. The edits I made to Excel did not appear in the attribute table in Pro.

However, I tried testing it again just now (3.2.1), and couldn't reproduce the issue. Refreshing in Catalog worked. So that's interesting.

Video:

By the way, if you want Esri to change functionality like this, I think you'd have better success posting an idea instead of commenting on it in a question. Or submit a case to Esri Support and ask them to report the issue as a bug.

EmilyGriswold

Agreed, this is mind boggling. There are very valid reasons for working from Excel, and Refresh should do just that.

wayfaringrob

Strange, this is no longer in the Limitations, but it is still true.

ValerieZimmer

Still no solution for this? Really?

LisaSenn

Simply version up your filename, so it cannot figure out it's the old one with minor changes!!! 😄

danretired

Work with Microsoft Excel files in ArcGIS Pro—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Excel tables are read-only in ArcGIS Pro; however, they can be edited in Excel while you have a worksheet open in the Contents pane (stand-alone table layer). The layer will only display the updated (saved) values for edits made outside of ArcGIS Pro when ArcGIS Pro has been closed and reopened.

One simple reason that the "refresh" would be a bad idea is when the student enters a piece of text in a numeric field... what should happen? should the whole field be turned to text? or an error message tossed up?

There are many other scenarios where a lot more than a simple "refresh" won't help.

Use the opportunity to show the students that working with gdb tables is very similar in some respects to working with spreadsheets... but different... they won't rely less on the familiar and be able to apply their skills to a new environment.

BarryKronenfeld1

Sure, I know. But I have reasons for keeping the data in Excel (will be using it as an exercise in a class where students don't know GIS) and I have this naive idea that maybe somebody from ESRI is watching these message boards and will fix the actual problem. It would be a really easy programming fix, the functionality is already there just need to call the function that reads the Excel file whenever the user hits the refresh button in the Catalog pane.

JoeBorgione

If I may make a suggestion: unless you have a compelling reason to leave your data in the excel format, convert the excel worksheet into an ArcGIS geodatabase table and perform your edits there. Excel is a spreadsheet; ArcGIS is a database management system. You'll have far less headaches if you treat your data as a database.

BarryKronenfeld1

Yes I have this problem too. It's not just that Excel files are read-only, the problem is that ArcGIS Pro won't reread an excel file once it's been read once. One would think the "refresh" command would do this but it doesn't work for me. I have to close Pro down and open it again every time. Very frustrating when I'm working through a large Excel file with lat/lon values and using ArcGIS Pro to find typos.

JoeBorgione

It also seems that just being patient does not work Nothing is more true when working with Excel in ArcGis Pro...

danretired

Jeanette Harlow From

Work with Microsoft Excel files in ArcGIS Pro—Excel | Documentation

under Limitations

Excel tables are read-only in ArcGIS Pro; however, they can be edited in Excel while you have a worksheet open in the Contents pane (stand-alone table layer). The layer will only display the updated (saved) values for edits made outside of ArcGIS Pro when ArcGIS Pro has been closed and reopened.

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