The workbook cannot be opened - SharePoint 2013

I have configured the excel services in my environment perfectly by using Microsoft recommended articles but while testing, i have added the excel file inside excel web access webpart to check as the functionality is properly working or not but boom – as soon as the page loads – it throws an exception.

The workbook cannot be opened.

 

This problem can be occurring mainly because of two reasons:-

1)      Custom security settings

2)      Addition of new web application to the farm.

One thing we need to make sure – whenever we add any web application then make sure the proxy settings/connections should be default one. Other way will be- You need to manually check the excel service application proxy to make sure that the new web application is already a part of the existing set.

How to do this:-

1.       SharePoint 2013 Central Administration

2.       Application management

3.       Configure service application associations

4.       Ensure the excel service application check box is tick with respect to that new web application

So far so good! – If still the error persists then I would recommend you to check the SharePoint logs to get the clarity on the exact root cause.

Regarding my case, I did the same and figured it out that it’s a permission issue. Let me tell you one thing very confidently those 9 out of 10 cases are based on permissions issue only.

So how to resolve this? Let me guide you step by step so that there would be no confusion.

Resolution:-

1)      Go to any of your SharePoint 2013 Server

2)      Start

3)      All programs

4)      SharePoint 2013 products

5)      SharePoint 2013 management Shell

6)      Make sure you run this console as “Administrator”

7)      Execute the following commands

$webApp = Get-SPWebApplication "WebApplication URL"

$webApp.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity("Excel Service Account Name")

What you need to change in this –

Web application URL - Please enter the web application URL where you are facing the problem.

Note: this is not a site collection URL but root URL underneath your site exist.

Example: http://sharepointgalaxy.com/sites/sharepoint2013

If you look at the above URL then here is the isolation:

http://sharepointgalaxy – web application URL

/sites – wildcard variable

/sharepoint2013- site collection name

Second change you need to do inside the PowerShell command is:

Excel service account name – this should be in the format domain name/excelserviceaccname

Now the question is – how to find out this excel service account name?

1)      Central Administration

2)      Security

3)      Configure service accounts

4)      Click on the dropdown

5)      Select the excel service account which is running the excel service application

That’s it- you are done! In case of any queries/questions then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.