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Error message when you try to view an Excel 2007 workbook that contains a formula that uses a caret operator in Excel Services: The workbook may be in an unsupported file format, or it may be corrupt

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Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
©2005-©2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks

Article ID: 928719 - Last Review: October 17, 2007 - Revision: 2.0

Error message when you try to view an Excel 2007 workbook that contains a formula that uses a caret operator in Excel Services: "The workbook may be in an unsupported file format, or it may be corrupt"

SYMPTOMS

Consider the following scenario. You create a workbook in Microsoft Office Excel 2007, and then you save the workbook in Excel workbook format (.xlsx). One or more cells in the workbook contain a formula that uses the caret (^) operator to mean exponentiation. For example, the workbook contains the following:
Collapse this tableExpand this table
CellValue
E55
F5=E5 ^2
You publish the workbook to Excel Services, a feature of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. In this scenario, Excel Services does not load the workbook when you use a Web browser to try to view the workbook that you published to the server. Instead, you receive the following error message:
Unable to Load Workbook

The workbook that you selected cannot be opened.
The workbook may be in an unsupported file format, or it may be corrupt.
Would you like to try and open this file in Excel?

CAUSE

This issue occurs if a space character is in front of the caret operator in the formula.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, use one of the following procedures:
  • Remove the space character that is in front of the caret operator in the formula.
  • Save the workbook in the non-XML binary workbook format (.xlsb). Then, publish the workbook to the server.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about Excel Services, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms546696.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms546696.aspx)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101054761033.aspx (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101054761033.aspx)

APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2007
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
  • Excel Services
Keywords: 
kberrmsg kbtshoot kbprb kbexpertiseinter KB928719
       

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