Microsoft made an unannounced patch (KB3170008) to Office Excel end of July 2016 that prevents web tables with xls extension from opening. This affects all files of this type on the internet and not just those downloaded from Lolly. Users who have installed this patch will see a blank screen when opening the file. There are no error messages or warnings.
There are two immediate workarounds to open the files. Please use one of the following while we determine Microsoft's new approach for handling web tables in Excel.
Workaround for a single excel file
- Right click the excel file, choose Properties.
- Click on the General tab, choose Unblock.
- Click OK to the alert and the file will then open correctly.
Workaround for adding a location (ex. 'Downloads' folder) to the Trust Center of Excel.
- To do that, open Excel and go to File -> options -> Trust Center -> Trust Center Settings -> Trusted Locations.
- Add your 'Downloads' folder to the list of trusted folder locations.
- Save settings and go to the folder, double-click on the file you downloaded.
We are looking into additional add-ins and development on our end to produce a fully-formed, signed, Excel file that can be downloaded and side-skirt this issue.
Please contact us at support@lollylaw.com if you have questions.