Using the "Send to Microsoft Excel" option in SAS® Enterprise Guide® with large tables from external databases might result in incorrect data


When you use SAS® Enterprise Guide® 8.6 to export a table from an external database and choose Share ► Send to Microsoft Excel, some data values might be incorrectly transferred. This issue occurs intermittently and is more likely to occur when you work with larger tables.

For example, this issue occurs when you complete steps similar to the following:

  1. Create a library assigned to an external database.
  2. Navigate to this library from the Servers window and double-click a table to open it in the SAS Enterprise Guide data grid.
  3. Click Share ► Send to Microsoft Excel.
  4. Wait for the export process to complete.
  5. Check the data. Some values might be incorrect.

Cause

The issue occurs because two internal processes in SAS Enterprise Guide access the same data at the same time. One thread sends the data to Microsoft Excel, whereas a second thread refreshes the data grid that displays the table. This simultaneous access can cause the wrong values to be retrieved during export. 

This issue occurs only when the table is open in the data grid. If you export the table without opening it, there is no conflict.

Workaround

To avoid this issue, do not open the table in the data grid. Instead, create a new process flow, drag the table into the new process flow, and then select Share ► Send to Microsoft Excel.