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'Active spreadsheet was not found' With IBM i Access Client Solutions Data Transfer

Question & Answer


Question

I open a new Excel spreadsheet. Then, I launch the IBM i Access Client Solutions data transfer and select 'Active Excel Spreadsheet' for 'Output device'.  I receive an error that says 'Active spreadsheet is not found'. Why is this happening?

Cause

The transfer cannot occur when the spreadsheet has a cell in edit mode.

Answer

First, close the error message. Then, click the spreadsheet and ensure that the cursor is not flashing in the function and text entry bar or in any cell. Simply single-click any cell so that it is highlighted only. Then, go back to data transfer and click 'Output device' again and select 'Active Excel Spreadsheet'. This time you do not get an error.
The 'Active spreadsheet was not found' message can also occur due to a problem with The MS Office installation and its relationship to the underlying OS. The following Powershell script can be used to test Windows ability to detect open Excel workbooks and worksheets:
$Excel=[Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::GetActiveObject("Excel.Application")

Echo 'List All Open Workbooks:' '--------------------------'
for ($i=1; $i -le $Excel.Workbooks.Count; $i++)
{
   $WBName=$Excel.Workbooks[$i].Name
   $WB=$Excel.Workbooks[$i]
   $WBName
   "   Worksheets in " + $WBName + ":"
   for ($j=1; $j -le $WB.Worksheets.Count; $j++)
   {
      "      " + $WB.Worksheets[$j].Name
   }
}

Echo '--------------------------' ' ' 'Active Workbook:' '--------------------------'
$ActiveWorkbook=$Excel.ActiveWorkbook
$ActiveWorkbook.Name

Echo '--------------------------' ' ' 'Active Worksheet:' '--------------------------'
$ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Name
'--------------------------'

pause
To use it, save the source code to a text file and give the file name an extension of ".ps1". Open Windows PowerShell from the directory in which the script resides and run the script. For example,
image 8281
If Windows cannot find an open workbook, the data transfer function also fails to find it. This problem needs to be resolved by whomever supports the Microsoft Windows or Office software on the PC.
Anecdotally, in September of 2022, a Windows administrator reported resolving the 'Active spreadsheet was not found' issue by running Office 365 Online Repair.  Another reported resolving the error by opening the spreadsheet from the local hard disk rather than Microsoft One Drive.

[{"Product":{"code":"SWG60","label":"IBM i"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Component":"Access Client Solutions","Platform":[{"code":"PF012","label":"IBM i"}],"Version":"Version Independent","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB57","label":"Power"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
20 December 2023

UID

nas8N1020732

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