Unable to revise an Excel document with Windchill DTI

[AdrienKLEIN]

Hello Community,

We experienced something wrong with Windchill DTI :

A user revised an Excel document (.xlsm) to version B, and tried to open it with Excel, but nothing works : the file opened is still A.20 (the last iteration).

At first I suspected an issue with local files, but reproduced the problem with another account and computer with an empty cache.

We also tried to revise the document from Excel but it did not change anything : it was still version A in Excel, even if version B was created in Windchill.

I don't know if this is in any way related to the problem but in file history one can see changes in the file name and extension, sometimes "*.xlsm" and then "* (1).xls"..... 

I don't have much more to give as informations, I hope this will be enough...

Any idea what can be the cause of such a weird behavior?

Thank you in advance!

[avillanueva]

When the system revises an object, the content remains the same. I think that is what you are seeing. Try checking out object (B rev) and then looking at object properties or details. What does it show?

[avillanueva]

Does the user have rights to revise? Have them try from web interface as well as DTI. Perhaps its just failing to revise.

[AdrienKLEIN]

Hello @avillanueva,

Thank you for your answers.

Revise is done in any case, and all users involved in this case have rights to revise, this is not policy related.

We already tried to check out what is opened, it does not work : even if a version B exists, it is still version A opened in Excel, even after performing "Update" command.

I don't understand at all what is the matter with this file....

[HelesicPetr]

Hi @AdrienKLEIN 

What is your Windchill version and Office version? 

There can be issue with office 365

PetrH

[AdrienKLEIN]

Hello @HelesicPetr 

Thank you for your answer, Windchill version is 12.0.2.1, and we are using Office 365.

I did not find any information about issues with 365, do you have more informations?

[HelesicPetr]

@AdrienKLEIN 

I have experience with some issues in wch 11,1 and office 365 but that time it was compatibility issue. 

I would test if the content is updated in different way. 

Clean a cache and local files.

Revise the document in the common space

Check-out the document and then open with DTI. 

PetrH

[AdrienKLEIN]

I had already done every step you described, but did it again juste to be sure but it still doesn't work... It even gets weirder !!!

I managed to check out both versions A and B !!

I did following steps :

- Clear cache and local files

- Revise document in Windchill

- Check out version B in Windchill

- Open document in Excel

At this step, I was asked to check out documents, I clicked "Yes", and this is how I was able to check out both versions...

[HelesicPetr]

do not checkout the revision A. It is not right way. 

It seams that you still open the old revision instead of the new one. 

PetrH

[AdrienKLEIN]

Yes I know, I also tried to click "No" to the Check out message but it was not any better.

It was just to show that in any test I run, I always open the last iteration of version A. I was never able to open version B, and this is precisely what I worry about...

[HelesicPetr]

@AdrienKLEIN 

This is the case. You need to step on the correct version of object.

You need to be sure you are opening version B.1 working copy.

If system asks you to checkout already checkouted document it is wrong and the DTI download wrong version because you are on the wrong version in the Windchill. I just guess, but use the I icon in history to go to detail page of the working copy B.1 and then open it in the DTI.

PetrH

[buenosroas]

Check that your system does not allow checkout of non-latest iterations. Allowing this may lead to unexpected behaviours.

Site/Org/Context: Utilities > Preference Management > Create and Edit > Allow checkout of non-latest iterations.

Getting names with (1) appended suggests that you opt not to overwrite file when you open it, and instead save it to the same folder where the previous document was stored (not removed after previous checkin).

Be warned that there's a difference to where files are placed if you 1) open the document and then check it out, or 2) check out from Windchill and then open it. Method 1 would store the file in for instance ..\Windchill\Product\TestProduct\Documents, and method 2 would store the file in ..\Windchill\Product\TestProduct\Checked Out\Documents. Inconsistent working methods may lead to unexpected results.

We're using 12.0.2.5 and I have tested this with Office 2016, 2019 and MS365 and I have not seen this behaviour yet. 

[AdrienKLEIN]

Thank you @buenosroas, it is not allowed to ckeck out non latest iteration in our environnement.

Yes I saw that difference in locations depending on how we check out document, but no matter how I try to open version B, I always get version A.

Something I forgot to say is this is the first time we get this problem. Some other documents have been revised with no problem so I believe this is not a configuration problem... Maybe a wrong move from the user? Even if I don't know what he could have done wrong in this case...

[Marco_Tosin]

You probably need to remove references to Windchill written directly in the Office file.

How to remove the Desktop Integration attributes from an office file that has been managed in Windchill

Take a look also to this article

Not able to upload a copy of local file to Windchill via "Desktop Integration"(DTI) if the source of local file has been uploaded before

[AdrienKLEIN]

Thank you @Marco_Tosin but I don't understand why I should remove references, won't I lose the link between local file and server file?

[Marco_Tosin]

The reason is explained in the second article I cited.

Years ago we encountered a problem similar to yours and solved it by removing the link to Windchill, written within the Office document attributes.

Once the link was removed, we were able to load the corrected version into the system, which recreated the link between the document and Windchill.

[jbailey]

Did you try opening the file directly in the office app (open excel, then browse to it)? Is the local location on onedrive ?

[AdrienKLEIN]

Hello @jbailey, thank you for your answer, it was always opened in office app, and local location isn't on onedrive.

[jbailey]

Try opening it directly from Office ... fyi .xlsm is a macro enabled excel file, xls/xlsx is a standard excel file.

[AdrienKLEIN]

Oh yes sorry I misunderstood your answer, yes I tried that also, same result unfortunately....

About the extension, I know that, but we don't know why it was changed since no modification were made in macros at any time. regarding its content, it has always been a .xlsm file

[AdrienKLEIN · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone,

I finally managed to repair this file!!!

The problem was indeed due to the "(1)" and the extension ".xls" instead of ".xlsm".

Steps :

1. Open file from Windchill

2. Save as (in Excel) with the good name and good extension

3. Check in

4. Revise

5. Open again from Excel => Revision B.1 OK

I guess the original mistake came from the user but I still wonder how he was able to check in a file with a different name...