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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Concept: Managing Workbooks

Concept: Managing Workbooks

Use these primary actions to manage workbooks. For more details, select
Help
User Guide
 from any workbook.
Action
Description
Create an empty workbook
From Drive, select
Add New
Workbook
.
Import (upload and convert) a file to create a workbook
From Drive, select
Add New
Upload
.
You can upload an Excel file or any file that uses:
  • Comma-separated values (CSV).
  • HTML format.
When you upload one of these file types, Worksheets automatically converts it into a workbook.
Notes on uploading and converting
:
  • For Excel files, check the file size in addition to the number of cells before uploading it. In some cases, an Excel file is apparently small but the file size is disproportionately large. We call this Excel file a bloated file. A bloated file might upload very slowly or it might fail. You need to eliminate the cause of the oversized file. Here are some common causes and tips:
    • Formatting information. Unnecessary formatting is the most common cause of a bloated file. Sometimes formatting rules exist for a full sheet, or for all columns or rows in a sheet. The formatting is invisible but it might dramatically increase the file size. Spreadsheets that you originally created in Google Sheets contain formatting information for all cells up to Z:1000 by default. To determine if formatting is an issue, you can press Ctrl+End to locate the last used cell in a sheet. To eliminate formatting, you can select each data range in the file using Ctrl+Shift+{arrow keys}, then paste the content into a new file.
    • Hidden sheets. Unhide all the sheets, and remove any that are unnecessary.
    • Unused defined names or external references (links) to other workbooks in a copied workbook. Excel can retain data associated with defined names and external references even after you break the link to the original workbook. Delete any unused references.
    • Other possible causes of bloat include sharing or revision information, deleted complex macros, and more.
  • For HTML files, Worksheets uses only the table data when creating the workbook.
  • Worksheets doesn't convert charts.
  • Worksheets doesn't support Visual Basic macros. If a spreadsheet contains macros, the conversion to a workbook might fail. Save the Excel file without macros before uploading it into Worksheets.
Copy a workbook
From Drive, select the workbook and click
Make a Copy
.
If the copied workbook is based on live data, you initially see the same data as the workbook owner based on their permission level, but as soon as you refresh live data in the workbook you see only the data that you have access to. If you don't have access to one or more data source fields, an error occurs when you refresh live data.
Download workbooks
From the workbook, select
File
Download as
 and select the file type to create.
Tenant settings determine whether mobile app users can download workbooks.
Notes on downloading
:
  • When downloading to XLSX, there are 2 formatting options:
    • Microsoft Excel: Use this format when you want to preserve Worksheets-specific functionality in your workbook. Example: You plan to upload the file into Worksheets again later, or you are copying a workbook from one Workday instance to another.
      Formulas that use Worksheets-unique functions aren't compatible with Excel. For Worksheets-unique scalar (non-array) formulas, you see a
      #NAME
       error in other spreadsheet products. For array formulas, Workday prepends the cell content with identifying text in JSON format such as
      Workday Unconstrained Array Ext2:
       or
      V2.Workbook.valueNumber:
      . This identifying text is for internal use only; its format might change in future releases, and using custom processes to parse the text isn't supported.
    • Microsoft Excel as Values: Use this format when you want to work with or review the data but you don't need to preserve formulas. The downloaded file contains only values, with no formulas and no charts.
  • When downloading to PDF, Worksheets might truncate the data if the cells aren't wide or tall enough. Merge or expand cells as needed before downloading to make sure all your data is displayed in the cells.
  • When downloading to a format other than XLSX, only the currently selected sheet downloads; the automatically assigned filename is
    workbookname_sheetname.filetype
    .
  • Worksheets doesn't preserve workbook comments.
  • Pivot tables that you create in a workbook don't display when exported to Excel.
  • You might need to enable pop-ups in your browser.
  • For troubleshooting purposes, you can download a workbook in raw WXF format to provide to Support. To do so, press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + W (Windows) or Command + Option + Shift + W (Mac). This isn't a user-readable format. Worksheets doesn't support using the WXF format to move workbooks between tenants because results can be unpredictable.
  • Because Excel doesn't support instance values or multi-instance values, Worksheets downloads this type of cell content as a string (text). If a cell contains a multi-instance value with many instances in it, the content might be greater than Excel's 32,767 character limit for cells. If this occurs, you see an #N/A error in the cell.
Remove (move to Trash) a workbook
From Drive, select the workbook and then click
Remove
. The workbook moves to the Trash view, but it isn't permanently deleted.
Worksheets removes access for all users, and the workbook no longer displays in Drive except for the owner's Trash view.
If an integrating application such as Projects or Payroll automatically created a workbook, you can remove the workbook only if you disable the entry area first. Some integrating applications refer to disabling the entry area as locking.
If you remove a workbook that someone shared with you, you remove yourself from the list of shared users. The workbook disappears from Drive and it doesn't display in the Trash view.
After removing a workbook, you can restore it only if you are the person who created it.
Restore workbooks from Trash
From Drive, select
Trash
. Select the workbooks and then click
Restore
.
You can restore a workbook only if you are the person who created it.
Permanently delete workbooks
Drive administrators can permanently delete up to 1000 workbooks at one time by accessing the
Drive Permanent File Delete
 task.