SharePoint Choice Column In Excel Info Panel

Copper Contributor

Pretty sure I've come across a bug in the way SharePoint document library column data is exchanged with Excel documents stored in that library.  When attempting to save SharePoint data through the Excel Info panel I get a javascript error and the data fails to save.   I think this is an Excel issue rather than SharePoint because all other Office documents support this functionality and work as expected even when housed in the same SharePoint doc library.

 

The error can reliably be reproduced by doing the following:

  • Create a new SharePoint document library with a new column of type Choice
    • Set display choice to: Checkboxes (allow multiple selections)
  • Upload or create a new Excel document in the SharePoint library
  • Open the Excel document using the desktop app
  • Open the Info panel in the Excel doc
  • Under the Properties section of the Info panel in Excel, click the Show Details button next to the Choice column
  • A script error window will pop up with the message ‘Unable to set property ‘value’ of undefined or null reference’
4 Replies
I'm also experiencing this with an existing .xlsx file in a SharePoint document library. The document properties can be updated through SharePoint's web UI and the workbook can be edited with no issues using Excel Online, but attempting to edit the workbook in the Excel desktop application gives the same error as the reporter. It is not possible to save changes made to the file in desktop Excel because Excel believes that mandatory document properties are not set, but it is not possible to edit the properties because of the script error described above. Document properties display OK in the Info screen, but they appear blank/unset in the Web File Properties dialog that generates the script error.

This makes it impossible to edit the workbook in Excel and so we have to use Excel Online for this workbook.
This seems to happen for all .xlsx workbooks in the document library. Attempting to view the document properties dialog in Excel generates the error even when the workbook is not checked out.

Excel version:
Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2109 Build 16.0.14430.20154) 32-bit

This is new behaviour since the last few months - it certainly was not an issue before July 2021.

We are experiencing this same issue, found any solution to this?

Not sure what is the root cause but we resolved this on multiple machines by resetting IE.

1. ⁠Open Internet Explorer, select Tools > Internet options.
2. ⁠Select the Advanced tab.
3. ⁠In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, select Reset.

In the box, Are you sure you want to reset all Internet Explorer settings?, select Reset.

When Internet Explorer finishes applying default settings, select Close, and then select OK.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-or-reset-internet-explorer-settings-2d4bac50-5762...