Limitations When Producing Reports in Microsoft Excel Format

There are limitations when producing reports in Microsoft Excel format.

Unable to Load Images from the IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson Content Store in a Report
If a report contains an image whose URL points to the IBM® Cognos® Analytics with Watson content store, the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software generates an access violation error and shuts down.
Blank Worksheet Appears
If the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software cannot download a worksheet within a timeout period, Excel may instead open a blank worksheet.
Warning Message Appears When Excel Opens an IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson Report
Each time the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software opens an IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson report, a warning message appears.
Spreadsheet Content Not Saved for Reports Saved in XLS Format
If you open a report that was saved in XLS format or run a report in XLS format, and security settings in your Web browser are set so that you are prompted to open or save the report, do not click Save. If you save the report, the spreadsheet content will not be saved. This is because Microsoft Excel reports in Microsoft Office 2000 HTML format use relative paths to the spreadsheets. The relative URL paths are no longer available when you open a saved XLS report.
Unable to Nest Labels in Charts
Currently, it is not possible to specify nested labels for the category axis via XML.
Data Series Are Truncated
The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software may group data series or categories differently when compared to a chart produced by IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson.
Colors Different From Those in HTML or PDF
If an IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson report contains a chart that uses custom colors, the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software may not be able to add the custom color to the Excel color palette. Excel will attempt to match the custom color to one of its available standard colors. As a result, colors in Excel may vary from those seen in HTML or PDF.
Repeating Pie Charts
If you have a report that has repeating pie charts and you define a chart title, the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software will show each pie with a title that is a concatenation of the chart title and the data series. For example, if the chart title is Quantity Sold by Order Method and Product Line and the data series is Order method, the title of each pie in Excel will be Quantity Sold by Order Method and Product Line, order method.
Unable to Skip Discrete Axis Labels
In IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson charts, you can control the skipping of discrete axis labels. This feature is not supported in Microsoft Excel charts.
Unsupported IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson Formatting
About 30% of the formatting functions available in IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson are not supported in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software.
Cells Contain Series of #
Cells in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software have a limit of 255 characters. If your report contains text strings that are longer than 255 characters, they will be formatted as text and appear as ######.
Table and Column Widths
The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software does not support using percentages to determine the width of tables.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Is Not Supported in Some Excel Formats and Versions
SSL is supported for only the Microsoft Excel 2002 format in Microsoft Excel 2002 and Microsoft Excel 2003.
Number Formats Become Currency Formats in Japanese Excel
A report uses the Number data format and you save it as Microsoft Excel output. When you open the report in the Japanese version of Microsoft Excel, the data format is listed as Currency rather than Number. This occurs because Japanese Excel interprets the standard Number data format slightly differently than other versions of Excel.
Reports Show Data in Wrong Columns
A report contains a large amount of data that is presented using a large number of nested report objects, such as tables and blocks. When the report is produced in Microsoft Excel format, some of the data appears in the wrong columns. This occurs because Excel has a 64K limit on how many nested cell objects can appear in a single spreadsheet.
Unable to Access Reports on Remote Servers
You cannot access a report in Microsoft Excel format on a remote server.
Drill-through Reports Are Not Supported in Excel
IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson does not support drill-through for reports in Microsoft Excel format.
Map Reports Are Not Supported in Excel
IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson does not support map reports in Microsoft Excel format.
Unsupported Excel Formatting
IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson does not support some formatting.
Hyperlink Buttons Are Not Supported in Excel
The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software does not support hyperlink buttons.
Unable to View Reports in Excel Format Sent as Email Attachments
IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson can send Microsoft Excel reports in HTML and XML format by email. However, you cannot open them directly from the email message.
Many items on axis produces empty chart in Excel
If a chart contains many items on the x-axis, an empty chart is generated when the report output format is Microsoft Excel 2002.
Chart legend titles are not supported in Excel
The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software does not support chart legend titles.
Unsupported Chart Properties in Excel
The following IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson chart properties are not supported in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software:
Unsupported chart types in Excel
About 30% of the chart types available in IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson are not matched in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software.
Cell Height and Width Are Incorrect
The width and height of cells that contain data with curly brackets {} or parentheses () may appear incorrectly.

Parent topic: Reporting