File saved by XlsIO can''t be opened on a Mac

[Giles Billingsley]

I'm have a .aspx page which fills xls files with data and saves them, either on the the server or sends them to the browser. I use an simple xls file as a template which I then populate with the data.

This all works fine, and the system successfully generates and saves the files regardless of platform and browser, and they open ok on a PC, however when I try to open one of these files on a Mac running OSX and Microsoft Office it doesn't recognise the file type.

I'm sure you don't get many Mac-related queries, but I'd be interested to know if you have any ideas about what might be going on?

[Robert Clugston]

Have you tried creating xlsx files vs. xls files?

workbook.Version = ExcelVersion.Excel2007;

[Geetha M]

Hi Giles,

Thank you for your interest in Syncfusion products.

Could you please send us the generated XLS file along with the resaved version of the same, so that we could examine and get back to you with details?

Regards,
Geetha

[Giancarlo Aguilera]

Was this issue ever resolved? I am experiencing the same problem. Some files cannot be opened on MAC Office 2008. We are using version 8.103.0.30

Thanks

[Geetha M]

Hi Giancarlo,

Thank you for the details.

Could you please share us the input and XlsIO re-saved output files so that we can check and get back to you?

Regards,
Geetha

[Robert Teixeira]

Hi Greetha,

I'm an engineer that was assigned to track down the problem Giancarlo was referring to. Here's what's happening in our case:

We have a spreadsheet is that was generated by xlsio.web which contains several sheets of data and formatting (in 97/2003 compatible file format). By itself, this spreadsheet can opened by our users who are using both Windows XP (32-bit) and Office 2003/2007 as well as users on Macs (OS X 10.5.8) with Office for Mac 2008. That part works just fine.

The problem happens when we use xlsio.web to insert an image into the spreadsheets (using the code: sheet.Pictures.AddPicture(row, column, imageFilename); ). Users on Windows systems can open these spreadsheets with embedded images just fine. However, the same spreadsheet with embedded images cannot be opened on the Macs. Office 2008 on the Mac simply displays a message that says it cannot read the file if the image is a PNG. If the image is a JPG, the excel file opens, but the image is highly distorted. We tried a variety of different images, but always got the same repeatable result.

The exact same image files by themselves (not in an excel spreadsheet) can be opened just fine on the Macs.

What finally led us to believe this problem was caused by xlsio.web was that if we open the spreadsheets with embedded images on a Windows machine, re-save the file (which changes the file size), and then open the re-saved file on a Mac, it works just fine.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide the spreadsheets in question because they contain sensitive information (and if I edit that information in Excel and re-save, the problem will not exhibit itself). However, this issue should be easily reproduceable.

[Geetha M]

Hi Robert,

Thank you for the details.

We are working on this and will update you with further details on this in the direct trac incident.

Regards,
Geetha