SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2904146 - Report Export is showing "File format and extension does not match" message - Ad Hoc/ Report-Table

Symptom

  • After running an Ad Hoc report offline, the resulting output file in Excel shows the warning "The file format and extension do not match. The file may be corrupt or insecure." when opened.

Environment

SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite

Cause

This was due to the update implemented for b1908to  completely stop support for older versions of excel (.xls) and have all excel output generation done in .xlsx format  (internal ticket for reference: AYT-23829 )

Resolution

When Generate Excel 2010 Output for Adhoc Reports is Off (for older Excel versions) - the error message regarding "File format and extension does not match" is due to Excel's own security and also if protected view is enabled.  But when you click on yes, the report output is shown with no issue.  
 
When Generate Excel 2010 Output for Adhoc Reports is On (support for newer Excel versions) - the file extension becomes ".xlsx". When file format is .xlsx, the formatting is reduced and this is expected behavior.
You will notice that for Ad Hoc previously you could choose between either XLS or XLSX as file format extension but this has been removed since b1908 because support for older versions have stopped and it is recommended that Excel output generation is done in XLSX.
 
The message prompt when you're using Excel 2016 to open a ".xls" file (intended for older versions) is expected behavior.   We recommend enabling "Generate Excel 2010 Output for Adhoc Reports" in Provisioning instead since eventually support for .xls or compatibility with older versions may stop.
With .xlsx, the error message is gone since Excel 2016 is a newer version, though formatting is changed as well - more streamlined and reduced file size compared with .xls.
 
You will notice the difference in file size for the same report when exported with the switch On vs Off.  .xlsx is currently working as expected as a newer format and will not look like .xls.

See Also

https://jira.successfactors.com/browse/AYT-23829

Keywords

report - table, file extension, error when opening excel, .xlsx, .xls, xlsx, xls, Ad Hoc , KBA , LOD-SF-ANA-EXP , Report Exports (Ad Hoc, YouCalc, ORD) , How To

Product

SAP SuccessFactors HCM Core 1908