Support Article
Warning message in excel document loaded from Pega
SA-11504
Summary
Using ‘Export to Excel’ for any report causes a warning message which the user is forced to acknowledge before the user is allowed to view the results.
The file format differs from the format that the file name extension specifies. Verify that the file is not corrupted and is from a trusted source before opening the file. Do you want to open the file now? (Yes/No/Help)
It allows you to click "Yes".
Error Messages
The file format differs from the format that the file name extension specifies. Verify that the file is not corrupted and is from a trusted source before opening the file. Do you want to open the file now? (Yes/No/Help)
Steps to Reproduce
1. Open report in designer studio (even standard).
2. Click Actions > Run.
3. Click OOTB button, Export To excel.
4. Open exported excel document.
5. It displays the warning message, "The file format differs from the format that the file name extension specifies". If you click yes, you can see exported result. If you click No, you can not see anything.
Root Cause
This warning message is expected and as per design, when exporting from a PRPC application to Microsoft Excel.
Resolution
This message is generated because the actual file format exported by PRPC is HTML. However, the .xls extension is used to ensure that Microsoft Excel opens the exported file.
Excel is simply advising you as a basic security precaution which you can safely dismiss in this case. There is no setting in PRPC to change this, and over-riding the behavior by modifying Excel's settings would impact all files opened by Excel (not just those exported by PRPC).
Published July 13, 2015 - Updated October 8, 2020
Have a question? Get answers now.
Visit the Collaboration Center to ask questions, engage in discussions, share ideas, and help others.