Issues accessing Excel files in ArcGIS Pro 3.0

Description

After upgrading to ArcGIS Pro 3.0, some customers may experience issues related to Excel files. In ArcGIS Pro 3.0, one may see the following behaviors:

• Older ArcGIS Pro projects that contain Excel files will not open in ArcGIS Pro 3.0.
• Tools such as Excel To Table and Table to Excel do not complete correctly.
• Excel files added to ArcGIS Pro 3.0 does not load. One may see the following error message: “Required Microsoft driver is not installed.”

Cause

These behaviors are caused by a missing 64-bit Microsoft Access Database Engine driver. ArcGIS Pro 3.0 requires the Microsoft .NET 6 Desktop Runtime – Windows x64 Installer, along with the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable 64-bit driver for Excel.

Solution or Workaround

Customers need to install the appropriate driver for their machine, according to the following standards for ArcGIS Pro 3.0.

• To install ArcGIS Pro 3.0, the Microsoft .NET 6 Desktop Runtime – Windows x64 Installer must be installed on the machine. The Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable 64-bit driver for Excel works with this .NET installer, without additional requirements.
• If the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable 32-bit driver for Excel is installed, the .NET 6 Desktop Runtime – Windows x86 must be installed along with the 64-bit .NET 6 installer. This allows ArcGIS Pro 3.0 to access Excel files.
• If customers are working with ArcGIS Pro 3.0 and ArcMap 10.x clients on the same machine, both the 64-bit and 32-bit Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable driver are needed, along with both the 64-bit and 32-bit Microsoft Windows .NET 6 Desktop runtime installers.
• If the driver was installed already, but not silently, and it is determined that a silent install of the driver is necessary, then the driver should be uninstalled (through Windows Add and remove programs) so that the silent install can be performed. After performing a silent install, looking up the driver under Add and remove programs should show the current date of the silent install.

Once the appropriate installers and drivers are added to the machine, restart the machine and access ArcGIS Pro 3.0. Older projects containing Excel files open and users are able to work with Excel files in ArcGIS Pro 3.0.