Excel Round Trip Export – Excel Repairs Workbook and Removes Data Validation

Published Date: November 3, 2026
Audience: Everyone
Products and Versions Covered:

Jama Connect® version(s): all-to-date
- Cloud/CVC: 9.41.x
- Self-hosted: 9.41.x
  - Replicated - KOTS
  - Kubernetes - Native

Summary

When opening a large Jama Connect Excel Round Trip export, Microsoft Excel may display a warning that the workbook contains unreadable content and offer to repair it.

This occurs when the export exceeds Excel's limit of 65,534 data-validation rules per worksheet. Jama Connect creates a separate validation rule for each exported cell requiring a dropdown, such as a picklist field.

When Excel repairs the workbook, it removes these validation rules but preserves the existing item data.

After the repair, Excel may display the following message:

Removed Feature: Data validation from /xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml part

Although the exported data appears unchanged, affected cells will no longer provide dropdown menus or restrict entries to valid picklist options.

Resolution

Microsoft Excel supports a maximum of 65,534 data-validation rules per worksheet. Jama Connect generates an individual validation rule for each exported cell requiring a dropdown.

For example, exporting 30,000 items with three picklist fields each could generate approximately 90,000 validation rules, exceeding Excel's limit.

Workaround

To avoid exceeding this limit:

Export smaller batches: Split large exports into multiple workbooks to reduce the number of validation rules per worksheet.
Include fewer picklist fields: Exclude unnecessary picklist columns when configuring the export.

As a general guideline, multiply the number of exported items by the number of picklist fields requiring dropdowns to estimate the total number of validation rules. Keep this number below 65,534 per worksheet.

Impact on Round Trip Import

Removing only the data-validation rules should not prevent Round Trip import, provided the item identifiers, import mappings, and other required columns remain intact.

Jama Connect reads the cell values rather than relying on Excel's dropdown validation rules. However, without these rules, users can enter values that do not match the configured picklist options, potentially causing validation errors during import.

If Excel has already repaired the workbook, users can continue working with it, but should verify that any modified picklist values are valid before importing.

Additional Resources

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