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[Jason Wilder]

We are on NAV 2018, on prem, windows client.  I am simply hitting Ctrl E (or the Excel button when it is there) to export a list to Excel.  The list has a few columns that are actually functions not real fields (or flowfields).

When I do this on one machine it exports all the columns including the functions, on another it only exports fields and flowfields.  Most other users we have experimented with get the behavior where it does not export the function columns.

Can someone tell me why?  Is it the version of Excel or the operating system?  I have proven that it is not based on the User.

One work around is to copy and paste to excel but obviously not quite as pretty.

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Jason Wilder
Senior Application Developer
Stonewall Kitchen
York ME
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[Matt McDowell]

Have you tried disabling the NAV excel addon in excel on the machines that are not exporting the functions?

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Matt McDowell
Supply Chain Analyst
Valley Blades Limited
Waterloo ON
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[Jason Wilder]

This is an absolutely fabulous suggestion!  I’ll tell you how it goes…

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Jason Wilder
Senior Application Developer
Stonewall Kitchen
York ME
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[Jason Wilder]

Matt your suggestion was spot on, thanks!

So if you are not seeing certain fields export to Excel (normal fields and flowfields do export, functions created by a developer do not) here is why.  In Excel you have the NAV Excel Add-in installed.  You simply need to disable this.  To do this following these steps in Excel:

• Go to File, Options, Add-Ins.
• At the bottom of the screen next to Manage change the option to COM Add-ins and hit the Go button.
• You will see the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Add-in, simply un-click the checkbox next to it and click ok.

You could remove the Add-in permanently or never install it in the first place as well. 

You might ask what functionality are you removing?  Not much.  In NAV 2018 Windows Client that add-in simply allows you to refresh a list that you exported to Excel earlier.  By the way this Excel add-in is different then the Excel Add-in then can be set up to allow you to edit data in Excel and pust back to NAV.

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Jason Wilder
Senior Application Developer
Stonewall Kitchen
York ME
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[Matt McDowell]

Good to hear! I have it disabled for all of our users that use export to excel functionality. Most people get tripped up when they export the data and cannot add/remove columns because they just bounce back.  It just adds an extra step where they have to copy all the data and paste into a new sheet.

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Matt McDowell
Supply Chain Manager/Business Systems Analyst
Valley Blades Limited
Waterloo ON
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[Deb Peters]

I am not sure if this is related to the issue but I have found when we export from BC it exports to a table in excel and find it difficult to work with. 

We found if we convert the data from being a table to a range it allows us to use functions, insert columns, create pivot tables easier.  Put your cursor in the top left cell, right click, scroll down to “table” and choose “convert to range”.

Becomes much easier to work with.

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Deb Peters
Director of Finance, HR & IT
Midwest Rubber Service & Supply
Plymouth MN
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[Paul Smith]

Our NAV2017 also exports into a table in Excel.  Very annoying.  We don’t have the NAV Excel Add-in others mentioned, so it is not that.  Is exporting to a Table standard?  Anyway to turn off?

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Paul Smith
Controller
Human Rights Campaign
Minneapolis MN
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[Deb Peters]

Paul,

That is what I found also and couldn’t find a way to change it.   What I did was in my reply below and that is to change the table in a couple keystrokes.    

After exporting, put your cursor in the upper left corner of the table and right click.  Scroll down to “table” and then choose “convert to range”.  Then everything works.

Deb

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Deb Peters
Director of Finance, HR & IT
Midwest Rubber Service & Supply
Plymouth MN
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