Connecting to Excel is giving "You do not have permissions to open this file in the browser"

@ken.a and @SamB 
How is this still an open bug for one of the most popular Zap apps?

Confirming I had encountered this bug today when trying to troubleshoot an issue with a client’s Zap related to Excel.

Hi there @Bas and @Troy Tessalone! 

We can’t provide any ETA on when this will be resolved by but you’re both on the list of folks being impacted by this so you’ll get an email from us once a fix is shipped.

I can confirm that the cause of these errors appear to be due to an ongoing issue with Microsoft’s API itself. Our engineers are in communication with Microsoft about this and I’ll follow up here with any updates to the status of the bug report. Thank you all for your continued patience in the meantime.

I encountered the same issue, already filed a service request, please add my email to contact information:

Thanks for letting us know @restigian. I’ve added you to the bug report so you will definitely be notified as soon as this issue is resolved.

Please add me to the mail list also, we are also facing the similar issue. And resolve it ASAP

Sorry to hear you’re being affected by this issue as well @Nicolas Alzate. You’ve been added to the list so you’ll get an email notification from us as soon as a fix is in place.

Did anyone get this working?

I’m encountering the same issue as well 

Hi there @mauri scores and @Ben Kesterke. 

Unfortunately the issue is currently still unresolved. But you’re both on the list of everyone that’s affected by this so you’ll definitely get an email once it’s been sorted.

@SamB  I’m facing the same issues. Can you please add me to the notification list?

Sure thing, @hercules! I’ve added you to the list now, so you can expect an email notification from us once it’s resolved.

Hello @SamB I also wanted to Try out this Feature but sadly I also have this Problem. Can I also be added to the E-Mail notivication? Thank you in advance.

I’m so sorry you’re also experiencing this issue, @Scham Matthias. I’ve added you to the list as well so you’ll definitely get an email notification once it’s been fixed.

Add me to the list as well. This is the biggest use case for me and Zapier can’t display the worksheet although I have gone through every solution presented in this and similar threads.

Hi @ld2024, thanks for letting us know that you’re being affected by this as well. I’m sorry to not have any workarounds to suggest on this. I’ve added you to the list so we can send you an email notification as soon as it’s been sorted. 

Hi,

I have the same issue there. i have trying everything and still doesn’t

This issue affects our workflow quite badly.

Please help

Sorry to hear that @RBSG. Looks like our Support team has already added you to the list of folks being affected here. I can’t give any estimate as to when it will be fixed unfortunately, but you’ll definitely be notified once it is.

Still no update team - there must be multiple posts now advising of excel issues.  This is a show stopper for me and has been since early may. 

Surely this means anything excel related isnt working at the moment.  

I really really really dont want to move sheets.  Ive had these zaps working fine with excel for over a year (on a daily basis!!)

What is happening here? 
its very frustrating we cant work with excel :-(

Hi @cbc and @yasinyaso,

I’m very sorry about the frustrations caused by this issue, I’ve just checked on the bug report again and it’s still unresolved. I can’t make any promises around when it will be fixed but you both will definitely be notified by email once it is.

To clarify, these “You do not have permissions to open this file in the browser” errors are due to an issue with the Microsoft’s API itself so it’s not just the Microsoft Excel app on Zapier that is being affected here. This means that the issue with Microsoft’s API will need to be resolved on Microsoft’s end to get things working again. Our team is in communications with Microsoft and we’ll do all we can from our side to help in get this resolved. Thanks for everyone’s continued patience on this in the meantime. 

Hi Sam

Thanks for the update.  So just to confirm the Microsoft API is causing all EXCEL/ZAPIER integrations to have issues ? 

There is no workaround at the moment apart from using SHEETS ? How long do these things usually take to resolve?   Also its been unclear also about the start date of these problems?  Was it indeed May ? It was MAY for me - but others have mentioned april/march etc ?

Regards

Hi @cbc 

Thanks for the update.  So just to confirm the Microsoft API is causing all EXCEL/ZAPIER integrations to have issues ? 

As I understand it, these errors are caused by an issue with the Microsoft’s API itself, not the Microsoft Excel app integration on Zapier. I’d expect folks using Microsoft Excel’s API independent of Zapier would also be running into similar issues. 

There is no workaround at the moment apart from using SHEETS ?

Google Sheets isn’t the only alternative. You could can see the full list of other spreadsheet-type of apps available to use with Zapier here: https://zapier.com/apps/categories/spreadsheets. 

How long do these things usually take to resolve? 

There isn’t a set amount of time that it usually takes. Issues can vary greatly in complexity and it’s not always clear how long they will take to resolve. The issue itself will need to be fixed on Microsoft’s end so it might be worth reaching out to them directly to see if they are able to offer any insight on how long they expect a fix to take.

 Also its been unclear also about the start date of these problems?  Was it indeed May ? It was MAY for me - but others have mentioned april/march etc ?

I don’t have a confirmed date for when it began. But this Community thread was started back in February so it appears it was earlier than May.

Looking at the Microsoft Q&A site it seems others are running into similar errors here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1688063/error-401-fileopenuserunauthorized-graph-api. It was noted in the thread there that this issue was occurring for worksheets on personal OneDrive accounts. So I did some further digging and according to the documentation on Microsoft's API here it can be used to read/modify Excel workbooks stored in a OneDrive for Business, SharePoint site or Group drive - there’s no mention of personal OneDrive accounts. Perhaps this wasn’t always the case and is why now seeing these errors in cases where Zaps were working previously? 

Can anyone in the thread here confirm whether these “You do not have permissions to open this file in the browser” errors are also occurring for workbooks on a OneDrive for Business, SharePoint site or Group drive?

I have the same problems!

Sorry to hear that @lenzomio. I’ve added you to the list so you’ll be notified once it’s resolved.

It’s very odd that it was working until July 2nd but has since stopped. I’d recommend reaching out to our Support team here for further investigation into that. I’m hopeful that they might be able to find some helpful clue in the logs for your Zap that may help to give an indication of what recent change was made to stop it working suddenly. 

In the meantime, can you confirm whether your Zaps are connected to Excel workbooks on a personal OneDrive account, Business OneDrive account, SharePoint site or Group drive? Thanks!