Question Inconsistent corruption of Excel files unless user is on VPN ?

[Tennis987]

Hi all, I have a couple of end users who have issues with specific shared excel files on our network drive. They are .xlsx files and everyone should be on version 2308 of Excel. One file has macros, the other does not. Only one user is allowed at one time. 50/50 chance of the files opening normally for them, other times it will say it's corrupted and ask for a repair. One minute the repaired version will work. The next it wont. The minute after that the original file might work, etc. Even the repaired version, a revert to a previous version, or a copy of the file still causes issues.

At this point i was considering having them create a new worksheet and copy/paste the data into it. However turns out these two users have no issues with a corruption error message popping up when they are on our Cisco Any Connect VPN working from home/office. Which makes no sense because they are in office when the corruption happens.

I have no clue what can be causing the issue or where to start troubleshooting at this point aside from the obvious new worksheet copy/paste data tactic.

 

[Ralston18]

All I can think of is that the file is changed by one person (or one "thing") and that change is seen by the other person or thing as corruption.

Suggestions from afar:

1) Take a close look at the paths (VPN and non-VPN) leading to the Excel files in question.

2) " everyone should be on version 2308 of Excel" - Double check.

3) "other times it will say it's corrupted" - What is "it".

4) What is in place to ensure that two users are not working on the same file at the same time? Could other users be involved? Linked, shared spreadsheets?

5) Macros - is it possible that some macro is either active or not active and affecting the problem files in some manner? Are the files shared or linked in some manner that a change in one spreadsheet is (or should be) reflected in the other spreadsheet? Some sort of "behind the scenes" change that manifests as corruption?

Get the spreadsheets working/corrected via VPN. Once all is well then do some controlled in office testing to look for spreadsheet changes that are unexpected or not as expected.

Plan it out and coordinate with the end user community. Be methodical and make only one change at a time.

Test on copies if at all possible.

Full backups recommended beforehand. Which should be being done anyway.

 

[Murissokah]

Could be useful to check the event logs for application errors when it happens, may give some hints.