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Shinya O avatar image
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Shinya O asked Shinya O commented

Excel import from cloud service like SharePoint

Hi,

We would like to import excel from cloud service like SharePoint, but an error occurs when I follow the steps below.

  1. Create and save an Excel file (SampleBook.xlsx) on SharePoint
  2. Import the Excel file created in step 1 with FlexSim
  3. Import is successful
  4. Edit the Excel file created in step 1 on SharePoint
  5. Import again with the same settings as step 2
  6. The import completes successfully, but the changes made in step 4 are not reflected.
  7. Sync SharePoint and OneDrivbe
  8. Import again with the same settings as step 2
  9. The import completes successfully, but the changes made in step 4 are not reflected.
  10. Open SampleBook.xlsx from Explorer, check that the changes made in step 4 are reflected, and close Excel.
  11. Import again with the same settings as step 2
  12. The error shown below is displayed

1738653680048.png1738653687361.png


Does FlexSim support Excel import from cloud services?

I think it's the same question as below, but I posted it here because there hasn't been any update for over a week.

https://answers.flexsim.com/questions/174749/error-excel-import-from-cloud-service.html

Thanks in advance.

FlexSim 24.0.8
excelcloudsharepointexcelimport
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1738653687361.png (181.0 KiB)
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1 Answer

Jacob W2 avatar image
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Jacob W2 answered Shinya O commented

Hi @Shinya O,

After looking into this issue I have been unable to replicate the "Error reading cached excel data" error. There are a couple of potential theories as to why this is occurring as well as a few potential work arounds.

Theory 1: This is caused by using an online storage location such as sharePoint or OneDrive. There is a possibility that while FlexSim is attempting to access and open the excel document, one of the storage systems is doing the same thing trying to sync the document to the cloud. This is potentially causing FlexSim to throw errors as it can't access the file.

A work around for this is to download the file directly every time the file is changed online and use this static document. This ensures that the file is not reliant upon the storage system. You could also try pausing the syncing process on your computer's end so that it doesn't try to access the file.

Theory 2: FlexSim is having a hard time reading non-ascii file paths. It's hard to tell if this is the case in the images you've shared since you have blacked out the file path, but this is a possibility. To test if this is the case you could save the file to a file path that does not use non-ascii characters. This is also the best work around that we have to offer.


Finally relating to the document not reflecting the changes made on the cloud, this may be caused by the document not instantly being synchronized on your computer. I found that it could take a couple of minutes for the changes I made on the cloud to reflect on the file on my computer. If you offload that file back to the storage system, it will force the document to be redownloaded and any changes made online will be reflected at that time. Once again the best solution to this is to download the file after any changes have been made on the cloud, forcing the updated file to be used.


I have also found a couple of other forum questions that relate to this error and may give some other ideas for solutions.

Why do I get the error message “Error updating cached Excel Data”? - FlexSim Community

Error while importing excel data - FlexSim Community

Best,

Jacob

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Shinya O avatar image Shinya O commented ·

Thank you for the information. Here's what I've found based on your advice:

Theory 1: As you said, I noticed that the version history was updated when I imported into Excel.

1738805323851.png

Theory2: Blacked out file paths contain non-ASCII characters.

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