SharePoint - Excel File Opens in Gibberish

Problem

Sometimes Excel files stored in SharePoint display unreadable gibberish text when opened in a browser-based viewer. This usually stems from font rendering or caching issues.

Solution

1. Switch fonts inside the workbook

   1. Select all cells (click top‑left corner of the sheet) and change the font from Arial or Times New Roman to Calibri (or another default). This often resolves the gibberish display in Excel Online.

2. Try a different browser or private mode

   1. Open the file in another browser (Edge, Chrome, Firefox) or an incognito/private window to bypass caching or extension interference.

3. Clear browser cache and credentials

   1. Fully clear cache, cookies, and site data in your browser. Consider removing stored credentials via Windows Credential Manager. Then reload the file.

4. Open the file locally

   1. Download the Excel file and open it using the Excel desktop application or via “Open in desktop app” from SharePoint. It typically displays correctly there.

5. Reset user profile if issues persist

   1. If the problem recurs frequently, try creating a new user profile on the workstation and log in with that. Reset permissions if necessary.

6. Check SharePoint site settings

   1. Ensure the SharePoint site URL or library name doesn’t include special characters (apostrophes, ampersands, percent signs), which may trigger rendering issues.