Problem importing Excel

[ljw137]

Hi
I am having problems using an Excel spreadsheet as an External Data source. When I try to Import or Link Tables I get the following error message "The wizard is unable to access information in the file Path/Name . Please check that the file exists and is in the correct format'.
The file does exist so I presumed it was the format. I have removed all excess Worksheets, removed all formatting and formatted all the columns so that they are all the same.
None of this helped so I downloaded a sample spreadsheet from the Microsfot web page for this purpose. I also couldn't load this.
I have also tried importing a txt file but get the error message 'Could not find installable ISAM'.
This all leads me to believe that this is a problem with the PC/Access setup rather than the file I'm trying to use but I don't know where to check.
Any ideas would be really welcomed.

 

[Crilen007]

Hmm, make sure there are no number fields with text in them, that kind of thing.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

First things first. You didn't choose to save the worksheet with an odd file type, did you? Ought to use .XLS but technically you don't have to. The only problem is that if you DID use an odd file type, Windows doesn't know what it means. But if you DID use .XLS, that ain't it.

Your guess is probably right. It is a set-up issue, dollars to donuts. When you install Access, you should always do a custom install so you can be sure that your conversion wizards are available.

Fortunately, MS Office allows you to re-install Office in order to add a feature you didn't include in the initial install. Go ahead, re-install Office, and be sure to custom-install everything that allows you to interconvert files among the various MS Office formats.

 

[ljw137]

The fields are all set to 'General' format and the sheet is definitely .xls.

I have reinstalled using the 'Custom' method and picked everything I could see but it hasn't helped. Is there anything in particular I should be looking for in the setup as a couple of the options were not available to me to choose?

Thanks for taking the time to respond to this.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Normally it shouldn't require this, but check your references.

On any code page, use menu path Tools >> References.

Verify that you have Excel and some of the text support libraries referenced. If you did a custom install, they SHOULD be referenced OK, but you never know.

While in that dialog box, check for MISSING references. (They will be marked by the word MISSING in upper case.) Uncheck them. Then check them again, browsing for them. If you have enough memory in your computer, you can click the START button and do a Find >> Files or Folders, after which you can try to find the thing that is missing.

 

[ljw137]

Hi again

Under 'Tools' 'References' the following were already ticked by default;
Visual Basic for Applications
Microsoft Access 10 Object Library
OLE Automation
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.1 Library
Microsoft Office XP Web Components

I then ticked;
Microsoft Excel 10.0 Object Library.

I can't find any others that reference Excel nor do I see any tagged as 'Missing'.

Unfortunately, I still get the same error message.

thanks again for any help

 

[The_Doc_Man]

At this point it appears that you have done the things Access would require to ensure proper visibility. But there exists another issue. This will be important for a lot of reasons.

You get the message for a specific name/path combo. Go to the file in question. Right-click on it. On the pop-up, select Properties. On the properties dialog box, you want the Security tab. See what is checked in the summary permissions area (the white box within the grey box). Odds are that you will see some checks under "Allow" but they will have grey backgrounds. This is actually OK, grey background in this context just means "this permission was inherited from the parent file object" - which in this case means "inherited from directory."

See if your access rights are Read-Only or if you have any "Deny" checked. If so, your problem isn't Access but rather is Windows Security. You can have a problem if "Full Control" and "Modify" and "Write" are not checked because you cannot (well, ... Access cannot) open the file for update like it needs to be. One of those permission boxes needs to be checked because Access will seriously want to open the file for update.

I'm assuming you are on an NTFS disk. If it is FAT16 or FAT32, check for the Read-Only flag on that file and clear it if it is set. But I doubt you would be running either of the FAT file systems these days.

 

[Pat Hartman]

A search of the Microsoft knowledgebase produces:
could not find installable ISAM
There are links to similar articles for earlier versions of Access.

 

[Choff68]

What version of Excel is your file formatted? I have received a similar error with Excel 2.1. I have to open the file and do a 'Save As' Excel 97-2002 prior to importing or linking.