Office.context.document.getFileAsync() fails in some Excel clients

[tiagoalves]

As asked in this SO question, when my Excel add-in tries to fetch the whole OOXML zip file with the code:

Office.context.document.getFileAsync(Office.FileType.Compressed, {
  sliceSize: 65536
}, callback);

Some users are getting the error:

{"name":"Permission Denied","message":"You don't have sufficient permissions for this action.","code":7000}

Expected Behavior

Calling this method should return the XLSX file successfully in all Excel 2016 or later for Windows and macOS.

Current Behavior

The error seems to only occur in Excel clients with the exact version 16.0.0000.0000. In more recent Excel clients the call is successful.

Steps to Reproduce, or Live Example

I was not able to reproduce the error myself. I only know that it happens to some users of my add-in because I have integrated a central error catching/reporting tool and saw it there.

Context

More than a fix, I would like to understand:

• To what Excel release on Windows does version 16.0.0000.0000 correspond so that I can try to reproduce it?
• Is there any known situation in which Permission Denied occurs when reading the document file with Office.context.document.getFileAsync()?

Your Environment

• Platform [PC desktop, Mac, iOS, Office Online]: PC
• Host [Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.]: Excel
• Office version number: 16.0.0000.0000
• Operating System: Windows 10
• Browser (if using Office Online): The Excel embedded WebView is IE11

Useful logs

I have no other logs other than the error JSON provided above.

[catchingyu]

Thanks a lot for reaching us. Since it is not reproducible, could you help on more questions below:

How often does your customers encounter this permission issue?
Is it happening on specified customers or randomly happens on different customers?
Is it possible that you could reach out your customers and get their files/environment and reproduce the issue?

[hungvnguyen-kms]

Hi, currently I found that Excel on iPad doesn't support getFileAsync() function because when I logged it, it is 'undefined'. Is that true?
I have checked the requirement sets from here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/reference/requirement-sets/office-add-in-requirement-sets#file. It says that Excel on iPad supports this function, but in all of three FileType (Compressed, Pdf and Text) there is no mention about Excel on iPad.
Please help me to confirm this.

[tiagoalves]

@catchingyu, here are the answers to your questions:

How often does your customers encounter this permission issue?

My users encounter this issue when they're evaluating my add-in and either try again (and encounter the error again) or they simply give up.

Is it happening on specified customers or randomly happens on different customers?

It happens to different customers. But they all seem to be using the same Excel environment:

• PC, Windows 10 (I don't know the exact release)
• Excel 16.0.0000.0000 with IE11 WebView.

Is it possible that you could reach out your customers and get their files/environment and reproduce the issue?

I contacted the users that were affected by this issue but none of them replied.

@catchingyu, I'd like to ask you the following questions:

• To what Excel release on Windows does version 16.0.0000.0000 correspond so that I can try to reproduce it?
• Is there any known situation in which Permission Denied occurs when reading the document file with Office.context.document.getFileAsync()?

[catchingyu]

@tiagoalves have you reproduced the issue with the latest Excel Version. Is it possible you could have the screen shoot from your customer with the version info under the 'Account' tab?

If you can reproduce it, then it would be more helpful for us to identify the issue.

[tiagoalves]

@catchingyu I was never able to reproduce it with the latest Excel version for Mac nor for Windows. I also tried with Windows 10 pre-1903 and with Office 2016 Pro Plus with and without the latest updates.

I already asked my customers to tell me which version of Excel they use but no one responded.

I understand that this issue is not easy for the Office team to act on so feel free to close it.

However, before you do, I would truly appreciate if you could answer the questions I already asked twice:

• To what Excel release on Windows does version 16.0.0000.0000 correspond so that I can try to reproduce it?
• Is there any known situation in which Permission Denied occurs when reading the document file with Office.context.document.getFileAsync()?

[collinstowell]

I can confirm and further explain the issue (not the solution unfortunately). I believe that the core of the issue is that the original volume license versions of Office 2016 are limited to version 16.0.4966 and earlier. Unfortunately this still represents a good portion of the market, so we're stuck dealing with these legacy issues until the vast majority of the user base upgrades to 365/19.

So for some strange reason, on 16.0.4966, every call to getFileAsync results in that error code above (Permission Denied with the 7000 code). I've tried with various settings in the manifest but no luck with any of the settings. Any ideas or suggestions here? I'd hate to tell a good portion of our user base that our add-in won't be available to them.

[MandytMSFT]

@hungvnguyen-kms From the official document,GetFileAsync should be supported on ipad. Could you share you code and your excel version to us ? Besides, i'd like to suggest you to create a new GitHub query in order we can handle it timely(Mixing with other query is easy to be lost :()

[MandytMSFT]

@collinstowell did you try isSetSupported check in your addin ? you can refer the official doc here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/office/office.requirementsetsupport?view=word-js-preview
For GetFileAsync, it depends which fileType you are supporting, the requirement set mapping is here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/reference/requirement-sets/office-add-in-requirement-sets

For example, if you are supporting PdfFile, then the check is something like: isSetSupported("PdfFile").

Pls try to see if your issue can resolve. If not, i'd like to suggest you create a new github thread. I'd like to focus the issue tiagoalves reported in this thread

[MandytMSFT]

@tiagoalves as collinstowell mentioned, this may cause by your addin running on unsupported office version. Do you have isSetSupported check in your addin ?

[ghost]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it is marked as needing author feedback but has not had any activity for 4 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 3 days of this comment. Thank you for your interest in Office Add-ins!

[tiagoalves]

@MandytMSFT I am checking isSetSupported for different APIs but not for this particular one: Document.getFileAsync with Office.FileType.Compressed.

I didn't really understand how to check if that API is supported but apparently it's like this:

Office.context.requirements.isSetSupported("CompressedFile")

I'll add this to our add-in and see if that mitigates the issue.

However, I assumed these Common APIs with version 1.1, such as getFileAsync with file type Compressed, were always available in all hosts since 2016 and later.

[ernes32]

Hi @tiagoalves how would you check the API if other file types Pdf, Text are supported ?
Office.FileType.Pdf , Office.FileType.Txt

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/office/office.document?view=word-js-preview#getfileasync-filetype--options--callback-

I tried various options as as argument for "Office.context.requirements.isSetSupported"
File, PdfFile, pdf, TextFile, text, etc.. nothing seems to work.

Thanks.

[tiagoalves]

@ernes32 I just tested the following in ScriptLab and it worked:

Office.context.requirements.isSetSupported("PdfFile")
Office.context.requirements.isSetSupported("TextFile")

[ernes32]

Hm.. @tiagoalves it actually does but it seems I have found some inconsistencies in Power Point.
btw. I was testing Excel hoping that PDF file export is finally possible with getFileAsync ;)

I am using online Office with Chromium Version 81.0.4042.0 (Official Build) (64-bit)
with this script

PowerPoint:
CompressedFile status: true
PdfFile status: false
TextFile status: false
getFileAsync status: succeeded type: pdf
File size:96919 #Slices: 2

Word:
CompressedFile status: true
PdfFile status: true
TextFile status: true
getFileAsync status: succeeded type: pdf
File size:84147 #Slices: 2

Excel:
CompressedFile status: true
PdfFile status: false
TextFile status: false
getFileAsync status: failed type: pdf
Error: A network problem has prevented retrieval of the file.

[tpasi]

MSFT fixed the issue and now PDF works as well.
However, Office.context.requirements.isSetSupported("PdfFile") is still returning a false value.

[MandytMSFT]

@tpasi do you mean to Office.context.requirements.isSetSupported("PdfFile") on Excel online ? If yes, the fix is also checked in. Suppose it will be available for coming days.

[tpasi]

@MandytMSFT, yes I meant for Excel for Web, thank you

[MandytMSFT]

This thread contains too many topics, And i think all the question here has been addressed or given suggestion. I'd like to close this thread. @tiagoalves and other people pls open a new thread if issue still here for GetFileAsync