We have an .XLS file that our users open from an IIS 6.0 website. A majority of our users can open the current version of the file.
Some of our users get a cached version of the file from days ago when they click on the website's URL for the spreadsheet. The Excel spreadsheet opens as [Read Only] [Shared] [Compatability Mode] for all of our users. We have multiple users on the same PC and not all of the users have the same issue of opening a cached version.
I have narrowed it down to something going on with the profile because I delete the profile of a user experiencing the issue and the current version of the spreadsheet opens. This is a painful bandaid to fix the issue.
I have found multiple copies of the spreadsheet in C:\users\<USERID>\appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel Is this where Excel stores copies of the spreadsheet when it downloads? Is there a place in the profile that Excel stores offline copies of spreadsheets that are downloaded?
I have thought about one of the following to resolve the issue:
1. Saving the master spreadsheet as HTML on the web site. The problem is the webpage opens and transitoins to other "tabs" slower than the actual spreadsheet
2. Write a login\logoff script to clear out the location the cached file is stored. I first have to make sure that I have the correct location.
3. Change settings in Excel or IE to clear out the cache that Excel is using.
4. Convert the Excel spreadsheet to an .XLSX file and update the URL on the website to reflect the new file
Am I missing something or does anyone have another suggestion to resolve the issue?