Join disappears

[JohnBrand]

Hello,

I have a join set up between a feature class and an Excel table and everything works great.

When I open a second mxd that has the same join set up between the same feature class and Excel table, the join disappears.  When I try to recreate the join, I get this message

Failed to connect to database

General Function failure

External table is not in the expected format.

Is there a work around for this?  The table has to stay in Excel format so that other non-GIS users can make updates to it.

[AngieBraun]

I had the same problem when I added the Excel table to my .mxd from a file folder. I imported the table into a geodatabase and the problem went away. 

[KyleDixon]

Try using a DBF table or load into a GDB.

[JamesPierce]

Excel is a good way to quickly view XY data, but not a good way to permanently operate.  Like the others said.  GDB is the best.  Only a couple more mouse-clicks to get it done.