Forum Discussion
Phantom Photos: Images Duplicate Themselves Randomly in Excel Files Stored In SharePoint
kmnotorius 2022 and still having this problem. Files are saved to SharePoint. Duplication only happens when certain users access the file, so I'm assuming it's a problem with their computer, not all computers. Any linked photos or photos using the camera tool are duplicated each time the user accesses that file. If it is not caught quickly, the accumulation becomes so large that the file begins to work slowly. If it gets out of hand, the only way to fix it is to delete the tab because excel will lock up trying to select all objects and delete.
- Yup... and looking like the issue will continue to persist into 2023 (and beyond). At one point, I also believed it may have something to do with the computers certain users are using to access/edit, and that perhaps running older versions of Office was the culprit... but my entire team has since been upgraded to Windows 11/new laptops with the latest Office installations, and it's still happening. So think we've ruled that explanation out, unfortunately.
- It seems like it might be related to autosave. Some people are reporting that the issue stopped when they turned off autosave.
kvpool ... Yup. Still happening on my end also, although, less frequently. I completely agree - it seems to only take place when *certain* users open the file, but even in cases where those users open, it doesn't always happen. As far as they've been able to recount, they're not doing anything differently at any given time, so I've still been unsuccessful in pin-pointing which key strokes/mouse clicks/operations are responsible for the issue. Very frustrating.
I do find that one of the "easier" fixes/ways to manage the problem before it gets out of hand is to open the selection pane from time to time, and look for duplicate names of photos. In the event it's happened again, it's much easier to select and delete the duplicates from the selection pane, rather than clicking on the duplicate photos themselves and deleting.
- I have also found, that sometimes the copied images have the same name as originals and sometimes the name is just Picture****(in the selection pane).
I am experiencing, that when there are more people working on such a document simultaneously, it is more likely to be copied.
kvpool I found that I could open the file in Excel 365 on the web browser and delete duplicate images. Trying to open some of the files in desktop application would result in lockup like you mention.
- cwoodley Thanks! I'll remember that for future reference. Right now I just go in manually to the documents with this problem and delete before it gets out of control. Meanwhile, I need to come up with some sort of power automate or script to go in once a week and remove the extras on a schedule. Hopefully once we get everyone upgraded, that will solve the problem.
