Open a workbook or snapshot in Excel from Excel Services

You can copy the current workbook that you are viewing in Excel Services to your computer and open it in Microsoft Office Excel. There are two ways to do this: open the full workbook, or open a limited workbook, called a snapshot.

What do you want to do?

Why open a workbook on your computer in Office Excel?

What is saved and removed when you open a snapshot?

Open a workbook or snapshot in Excel

Why open a workbook on your computer in Office Excel?

The data and charts that you see in Excel Services are contained in a Microsoft Office Excel workbook that has been saved to a document library, a network folder, or HTTP location by the workbook author. There are times when you want to copy the current state of the workbook to your local computer and open the workbook in Excel. For example, you might want to:

• Take advantage of the print features in Excel.

• Change cell values and formulas to see new results.

• Add or update charts, PivotTable reports, or PivotChart reports.

• Use What-if analysis tools, such as Goal Seek or Solver, to answer unanticipated questions.

• Interact with Excel tables by adding calculated columns or displaying different subtotals.

For more information, see Differences between using a workbook in Excel and Excel Services.

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What is saved and removed when you open a snapshot?

A snapshot is a limited version of a workbook. Essentially, viewable information is saved, but information that you may not want disseminated is removed. The following sections describe what is saved and what is removed when you open a snapshot.

Saved

• Formatting     All cell formatting, styles, and themes.

• Visible information    All cells, columns, rows, and worksheets that are currently displayed.

• Cell values     The current text, number, and date values in cells, and the returned values of formulas and functions.

• Objects     Excel tables, charts, PivotTable reports, and PivotChart reports.

Removed

• Private information    Privacy information that might be in the workbook and that you might not even be aware of, such as your user name or personal summary information in the document properties.

• Conditional formatting    All conditional formatting.

• Hidden data     Hidden cells, rows, columns, and worksheets.

• Formulas     All Microsoft Office Excel worksheet formulas and functions.

• Interactive features     Any interactive features, such expanding and collapsing levels of data in a PivotTable report, Excel Table and worksheet filtering and sorting, and grouping and ungrouping outlined data.

• Connections     All connections to external data sources and cached data.

• Web-related     Hyperlinks, and Web Publishing options.

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Open a workbook or snapshot in Excel

Note: You must have Microsoft Office Excel installed on your computer. For more information on using Office Excel, see Office Excel help.

1. If necessary, open the Web Part Page that contains the workbook loaded into the Excel Web Access Web Part or open the workbook from a document library in Web Browser view.

2. From the Microsoft Office Excel Web Access toolbar, click the arrow next to the Open menu, and then do one of the following:

   • To open the workbook, click Open in Excel.

     The current state of the entire workbook including any interactions you have made in the current session, such as sorting and filtering, and including recalculated formulas and refreshed data connections, is copied to your local computer and opened in Excel so that you can view and change it.

   • To open the snapshot, click Open snapshot in Excel.

     The current state of the entire workbook or only the selected worksheets and named items if selected by the workbook author when the workbook was published, including any interactions you have made in the current session, such as sorting and filtering is copied to your local computer and opened in Excel so that you can view and change it.

     Tip: You can also open a snapshot from the document library where the workbook is located by pointing to the workbook item, clicking the arrow next to it, and then clicking Snapshot in Excel.

Important: The Open in Excel and Open Snapshot in Excel commands are primarily intended for users who want to explore data on their own computer by using all of the features of Excel. These commands do not change the original workbook located in the document library or network folder.

Issue: I can't open the workbook or snapshot

You may not have the Open Item right, which is required to open a workbook. You may not have the View Item right, which is required to open a snapshot. Contact your site administrator.

Issue: The Open menu does not appear on the toolbar.

An administrator can customize Excel Web Access so that the Open menu is hidden on the Excel Web Access toolbar. For example, the Type of Toolbar property might be set to hide the Open menu or the Open in Excel, Open Snapshot in Excel property is cleared. For more information, see Excel Web Access Web Part custom properties.

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