Category Archives: WordWriter

Excel or Word file generated by OfficeWriter opens in protected view (yellow)

Problem

A report generated using ExcelWriter or WordWriter opens and there is a yellow warning banner saying that the file has been opened in Protected View.

Solution

Starting in Office 2010, Microsoft introduced a security feature that scans files before opening them in Excel or Word. If there is something wrong with the file format definition, it will open in Protected Mode with a red warning banner.

One of the common scenarios for opening a file in Protected View is opening the file from an unsafe location, such as the Temporary Internet Files folder. This means that if the file is streamed to an end-user, it will open in protected view.

For more information about Protected View settings in Office 2010, please refer to this Microsoft TechNet article on how to configure Protected View settings in Office 2010.

SQLServer.com’s Jonathan Spink Reviews OfficeWriter for SQL Server Reporting Services

The following is an excerpt from SQLServer.com’s Jonathan Spink as he reviews OfficeWriter’s integration with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Read the full review here.

“…The idea behind OfficeWriter is to extend the functionality of software users are already familiar with, i.e. Excel and Word, so they’re able to both acquire the data they need and arrange it into a useful form. While OfficeWriter does come in two more specific forms, ExcelWriter and WordWriter, this review looks at the version developed for use with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), available in both 2000 and 2005 incarnations.

In order to take advantage of the different parts of this system, the OfficeWriter for SSRS package comes in two parts. The Designer is what you use to create the reports, either in Excel or Word, while the Renderer sits on the Reporting Services server.

This then is the OfficeWriter approach: from the Ms Office front-end, reports are produced in the SSRS XML-based RDL format, then uploaded to the SSRS ReportServer database, like any report produced using Visual Studio (VS). This means that they can also be viewed in Report Manager along with any other SSRS reports you have.”

[Read the full review]