# Report .XLS file won't work **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [January 31, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279 "2019-01-31T23:19:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boster281](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@boster281](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/boster281)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/1 "2019-01-31T23:19:07Z")
I am having an issue or the report viewer where when I save to .xls and try to open the file it says it is corrupt and won’t open. Saving as a pdf works fine. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/6/66789c82e0219968fcada1a8692fac4ad609272d.png) Here is an example of the error. ---
**Author:** ![Paolo.Mariani](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paolo.mariani/32/3285_2.png) [@Paolo.Mariani](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Paolo.Mariani)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 12:35am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/2 "2019-02-01T00:35:02Z")
So when you hit Yes to open it anyways, what does it do? ---
**Author:** ![boster281](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@boster281](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/boster281)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/3 "2019-02-01T13:36:09Z")
Opens a blank excel document named report ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/4 "2019-02-01T16:20:46Z")
What version of Ignition are you on? There’s a bug in 7.9.8 with excel exports not working - not a bug in prior versions, and fixed in 7.9.9+. ---
**Author:** ![SergioS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SergioS](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/SergioS)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 7:34am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/5 "2020-06-11T07:34:31Z")
with 7.9.13 I have the same problem… there are some driver to install in server that may be is forgetted? ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/6 "2020-06-11T15:27:07Z")
No. In all versions of Ignition prior to 8.0.6 (pretty sure) any export to Excel functionality is actually creating an Excel-compatible XML file and setting the file extension to .xls. Excel knows how to parse this (hence you’re able to open it) but complains about the mismatch between the document format and filetype. In the latest versions, Excel exporting has been revamped and exports “real” .xlsx documents. It’s not possible to backport this to 7.9, because the required library (Apache POI) at the required version doesn’t support Java 6, a requirement for 7.9’s LTS nature. ---
**Author:** ![cmohr623](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cmohr623](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/cmohr623)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/7 "2023-07-27T19:29:02Z")
This may be related to an issue my customer is having. They are currently on 8.0.7. Customer saves a report to an xlsx file and when double clicking to open in excel, receives an error that the filetype is invalid. This happened on their primary SCADA server as well as someone logged in remotely through a VPN on their personal laptop. On the SCADA server, I tried several things with varying luck. 1. Open blank excel worksheet and drag & drop the downloaded file into the worksheet. This worked, but not every time. 2. Open excel and click File/Open and browse to the downloaded file to open it. This also worked, but again, not every time. One thing I noticed is that once I tried either #1 or #2 and was successful, I could then double click the file to open it. If I clicked on the file name and then clicked again as if to change the filename, I could then double click to open the file. So it seems like something is not saving correctly when the file is initially saved from Ignition. Weirdly, I went back to my office, logged in remotely, and had no issue saving a file and opening it. For reference, SCADA server has Excel 2016, customer's personal laptop and my work laptop both running Excel from Microsoft 365. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 8:56pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/report-xls-file-wont-work/22279/8 "2023-07-27T20:56:28Z")
> [@cmohr623](#): > > They are currently on 8.0.7 You should test on something newer. (Note that the 8.0.x is end-of-life--has been for a couple years. If this is a bug, it won't be fixed.)