Microsoft Excel cannot access the file on SharePoint

You may experience an issue that prevents you from opening Excel documents via SharePoint Online. The error displays two messages, the first is:

Sorry we couldn’t open https://yoursharepointsite.sharepoint.com/DocumentLibrary/exceldocument.xlsx

Sorry We Couldnt Open SharePoint Excel

The second error message reads:

Microsoft Excel cannot access the file ‘https://yoursharepointsite.sharepoint.com/DocumentLibrary/exceldocument.xlsx’. There are several possible reasons:

  • The file name or path does not exist.
  • The file is being used by another program.
  • The workbook you are trying to save has the same name as a currently open workbook.

Microsoft Excel Cannot Access The File

This issue can be caused by problems with the Office Document Cache. It can often be resolved by clearing the Office Document Cache. 

How to clear your Office Document Cache

  1. Open Windows Explorer and copy and paste one of the following locations into the address bar:


    1
    %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache


  2. Select all files beginning with ‘FS’
    Select Office Document Cache Files
  3. Delete these files
    Cleared Office Document Cache
  4. Close Excel
  5. You should now be able to open the Excel document from SharePoint
    Try Launching Microsoft Excel Again