Arcmap 10.3 will not import .xlsx (Excel Spreadsheets anymore).

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06-10-2016 05:28 AM
TracyDeGrazia
New Contributor II

Arcmap 10.3 will not import .xlsx (Excel Spreadsheets anymore).  Where i work i have a remote machine that i log into, and the arcmap sessions on this machine will no longer accept excel files, but the Arcmap session on my local machine, has no problem with it.  Beyond uninstalling, and reinstalling Arcmap are there any other solutions that do not have the 5 step process of converting it to .csv, then converting it back and such?

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andrewj_ca
Occasional Contributor II

Hi Tracey,

I ran into the same issue a while back.  I needed to install the following for ArcGIS to be able to read the XLSX file:

Download 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components from Official Microsoft Download Ce...

I hope this helps.

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7 Replies
NeilAyres
MVP Alum

And what user are you on that remote machine? Have you tried re-setting that users arc profile / map template.

Have any 3rd party extension been loaded? Do you still have office on that machine? Anything that you might think has changed to cause this new behavior?

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andrewj_ca
Occasional Contributor II

Hi Tracey,

I ran into the same issue a while back.  I needed to install the following for ArcGIS to be able to read the XLSX file:

Download 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components from Official Microsoft Download Ce...

I hope this helps.

TracyDeGrazia
New Contributor II

Thank you Andrew, the internet suggested that as one of the solutions, but I did not try that approach, but glad it works.  But another solution as well is just down saving to an .xls.  That is a work around as well if people are not able to download things on their work computers without IT permission. 

RayMontgomery
New Contributor III

BE CAUTIOUS. Yes, the Office 2007 system driver works... but then later, when you start MS Access (at least at version 2016 32-bit), it automatically does a repair and reinstalls some Office components that apparently overwrite the system driver. The ability to read the XLSX files from ArcMap is removed. 

And to add to the fun, any MXD that had links to the XLSX files now *SO* fails to open that you get the dialog to report it to ESRI. Also, If the last place you added data to ArcMap from was the XLSX file, then trying to simply add new data to a clean ArcMap session gives you a blank list, and you cannot navigate anywhere else.  ArcMap's Add Data button is stuck looking in limbo-land.  Even deleting my Normal.MXT template (to restore ArcMap to original configuration) DOES NOT fix that. Still trying to solve.

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RayMontgomery
New Contributor III

The "Add data" issue was solved by uninstalling the Office 2007 system driver.

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SarahZaleski1
Occasional Contributor

I am encountering this issue now, is there a resolution for this or do we need to use older excel documents?

Does anyone know why ArcGIS is reverting to older excel?

Thanks!

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JenniferBloomer
New Contributor II

FWIW, I am also experiencing the same issue in ArcMap 10.8.1. My workaround has been to keep re-saving any .xlsx as an older .xls file, like others have been doing. No idea if there is a more elegant, straightforward solution, esp. since it causes confusion as to which files are the most current on our network.

Wish I could be of more help, but wanted to let others know this issue is still a problem in 2022.

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