Cannot convert excel file to target... I get the error: "Failed to save target content. Kay cannot be null"

Question

Hi everybody. 
 Has anybody ever come across the error "Failed to save target content. Key cannot be null. Parameter name: key" when trying to save target Excel 2007-2016 files? 
 This is what happened today when I tried to save target content to Xcel format... It's the first time this happens to me, I have worked with loads of Excel files in the past with no probs whatsoever... 
 What I cannot understand is that all the agency I'm doing this job for had to do is save the target files with their copy of SDL Trados Studio 2015, with no specific intervention. The problem was simply non existent. 
 Any help would be much appreciated. 
 Thanks 
 Fulvio

Paul · Accepted Answer

Hi Fulvio, 
 
If the agency had no problem then it's probably related to a small problem on your machine. You could try this to mirror what your agency might have been able to do. 
 
1. Take a copy of your sdlxliff 
2. Open the copy as a new project and save target 
 
That might work on it's own. If it doesn't then try this: 
 
1. Recreate the project from the original excel 
2. Replace the new sdlxliff with the one you had already translated. 
3. Save the target 
 
See if either of these work for you. 
 
Regards 
 
Paul

Fulvio Giglio · Answer

Thanks for you help, Paul. 
 
As you say, at least in such an event I have a workaround now! 
Kind regards 
Fulvio

Paul · Answer

Hi Fulvio, 
 
If solution 2. failed to work then this points towards something being wrong with the project files themselves, or perhaps the temporary files that are created as you work that are related to that project. 
 
wrt a checklist... I'm not sure I could pull that together but key things to note are the workarounds you now have as this will help you recover from a problem like this. 
 
Maybe one thing to watch out for as this might have been the cause of the problem is to ensure you don't have an AntiVirus or CleanUp utility of some kind that's wiping the windows temp folders as you work on a project with Studio. It's good to try and make sure you exclude the Studio program files from any operations of this nature. 
 
Regards 
 
Paul

Trados Studio > 1. Trados Studio

Cannot convert excel file to target... I get the error: "Failed to save target content. Kay cannot be null"