Copy-Paste from Cognos Report Gives Incorrect Results

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Issue/Question

I ran a Cognos report and I see it on my screen and am attempting to copy a column of data from the report (list of Banner IDs) and paste them into Excel, but it does not paste the correct information to Excel

Environment

  • Cognos
  • Microsoft Excel

Cause

  • Cognos reports default to HTML display, unless overridden the the report developer to display in another format

Resolution

If the report submission screen does NOT have a line across the top stating "This report will be downloaded in Excel format", the output is HTML​​​​​​ and will need to be run to Excel to copy the information

  • With the report output on your screen, click on the white right-facing triangle  at the top of the report
    • Select the 'Run Excel' option
    • The report will then re-run and put the information into Excel format
    • The Excel output presentation method varies by browser
      • Edge will display a list of files with an "Open file" link that will open the Excel file
      • Chrome will display an icon of the file at the bottom left of the screen that you click on to open the Excel file
      • Firefox will display a 'file save' dialog where you choose where to save the file and what to name it, then you open that file
    • After opening the Excel file, you can select the data you want and copy/paste as desired
  • If the report is already outputting in Excel format, one of the options above will be displayed and you can open the Excel file and copy/paste as desired
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