web
You’re offline. This is a read only version of the page.
close
Skip to main content

Announcements

News and Announcements icon
Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Apps / Excel only showing dat...
Power Apps
Answered

Excel only showing data once opened

(0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by 107

Hi

 

I've made a Canvas App with a form where I use several comboboxes to select data based on a excel saved on onedrive. So far so good, the problem is, sometimes, when a new user is using the app the excel file is not loading its values. The workaround is, that the user needs to open the excel once in onedrive directly and then everything works fine in the app.

 

It is hard to explain, as sometimes this step is not required.

 

The excel is only for read only purpose and there is nothing saved back there from PowerApps.

 

Has everyone experienced the same and/or has a way to resolve this?

Categories:
I have the same question (0)
  • Verified answer
    LaurensM Profile Picture
    12,516 Moderator on at

    @marczh is the file shared on OneDrive with all (new) users that want to access the app?


    Might it also be possible that the file was opened by someone when the person tried to access the data?
    Having the Excel file open during app use will cause issues when reading from or patching data to Excel (locked for editing). This is one of the bigger limitations of using Excel as a Power App data source.

    Since you mainly use the Excel for comboboxes, it might be worth to create them as collections within your app or use SharePoint as back-end.

  • marczh Profile Picture
    107 on at

    no I'm sure it wasn't in use or open somewhere else.

     

    But great idea with the collection, like this I don't need to give right to the excel itself.  

  • marczh Profile Picture
    107 on at

    Unfortunately this didn't resolve the issue. As the collection is not loading, if the user hasn't oppened the excel file first. (Same problem as if I retreive directly the data from the excel on onedrive)

     

    Has anyone a solutions, besides not using excel, for this problem?

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Season of Sharing Community Challenge Winners!

Congratulations to our community stars!

Kudos to our 2025 Community Spotlight Honorees

Expanding mentorship, skilling, and AI innovation

Congratulations to the June Top 10 Community Leaders!

These are the community rock stars!

Leaderboard > Power Apps

#1
WarrenBelz Profile Picture

WarrenBelz 324 Most Valuable Professional

#2
11manish Profile Picture

11manish 193

#3
Valantis Profile Picture

Valantis 138

Last 30 days Overall leaderboard