Downloaded transaction files from Santander are blank

[daveallen]

I have used Santander online banking for many years now and have always downloaded transaction history files (between selectable dates) for my various accounts in what Santander calls "Excel format". I suspect that these were not truly excel files but, nevertheless, Excel was always able to open them and I could cut and paste from them into my accounting spreadsheet.

Very recently (since about the start of July I think) I have downloaded these records in exactly the same way but, when I try to open the in Excel, all I get is a blank grey screen. The pdf and QIF versions of the information still download correctly but are not as useful to me.

When I contacted Santander they said I was using the wrong browser (Microsoft Edge) and should use Chrome - however, the problem persists in Edge, IE11 AND Chrome. When I told them this they said "the problem is obviously with Excel - there are lots of posts about this problem on the internet".
Well I don't believe that but I would like to ask has anything actually recently changed in Excel which could create this problem or does anyone know how I might get round it.

[TMS]

Downloadable transaction files are typically comma separated variable (.csv). Or, they may be tab delimited text files. Excel can usually open these files and automatically put the data in the correct columns. It may be that the file association has been altered so that the file isn't opened correctly in Excel.

You could try opening Excel first and then navigating to the file and open it from within Excel. If that works, you could try right clicking on the downloaded file in File Manager, choosing Open With, and picking Excel as the default application.

The other point of note is that sometimes people use .dat as the file extension for data text files ... but they're often the same as text files.

Anyway, some things to try ...

[Bellle26]

Hello, I was wondering if you had managed to find a solution to this problem? I'm having the same issue, previously used the downloadable Excel function daily and since the middle of last week it has stopped working. I'm just getting a grey screen when I try to open the download and it doesn't appear to work on any browsers...very frustrating.

[daveallen]

Sorry Belle26 - no luck to date. Previously, when the downloads worked, Excel would warn me that the file was "different to the type specified in the file extension" but it opened them anyway. That's why I thought they weren't truly .xls files. I wondered if there had been a recent automatic update to Excel which had changed something. I have written to the Excel helpdesk but had no reply.

[Bellle26]

Thanks for coming back so quickly, i emailed santander and they've come back with the following;

Thank you for your email regarding transaction download.
I can confirm that there has been a recent Excel update which is blocking some transactions from being downloaded.
Our technical team have looked in to their new update and have advised affected customers to please try the following:
When the file shows at the bottom of your screen, please right click into Properties & under security it will say security comes from a different computer do you want to unblock after ticking yes, the document should then be viewable in the correct format.
If the file is not showing at the bottom of the screen, you may be required to save it to your computer and when you can see the file to right, click on the icon and select properties and proceed as above.

I've just tried it and it's worked!

[daveallen]

You're an absolute star. I e-mailed Santander who referred me to their "digital team". They were the ones who told me ..."1. It's your browser (it wasn't)..2. It's Ecxel .. ask them!..3. Sorry, can't help.
Your reply is so much more helpful - I just tried it and it worked for me too. Thank you so much!

[rdbaker31]

Thanks so much Bellle26 for sharing that detail, very helpful and can confirm it worked for me too, great stuff.

Regards
Richard

(Windows 10/Office 365 ProPlus)

16-Aug-2016 - Update - Just found the article below on the Microsoft TechNet site to disable it permanently (3rd section down). I had the same issue at work when trying to open an Excel report generated by SolarWinds.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com...ovistasecurity

Here's the detail;

1. gpedit.msc (Group Policy Editor)
2. User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Attachment Manager
3. Enable: Do not preserve zone information in file attachments

Hope it helps.

Kudos to Zeeshan.Butt

[SueGibbs]

I am also having this problem, but I do not have an option to 'unblock'. Being unable to see these items in a spreadsheet is causing huge problems as I send the excel spreadsheet to the accountant each month, and they are unable to use a pdf.

It has only started with downloaded transactions from 1st July so far as I can see. June was fine.

I am using Microsoft Student and Home 2010. If anyone knows of another workaround, I would be really grateful.

[rdbaker31]

Hi SueGibbs,

The option to 'unblock' a file should be found on the file properties in Windows Explorer. Open up Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) [right click the Windows 'Start' button, then click 'Open Windows Explorer'], navigate to your file, then right click the file itself, click properties and you should see something similar to the following.

file_prop.png

Click 'unblock' and away you go.

Hope this helps

Regards
Richard

[SueGibbs]

Hi Richard.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Sadly I have already tried this, and there is no 'security' option listed at the bottom, nor the 'unblock button on the right. My window ends with the 'Attributes' line and tick boxes - see below:

Screen Print General Tab.jpg

If you have any other suggestions, I'd be really grateful.

Best regards.

Sue