Here is the problem: your Android Excel app is serving you stale data, and there is no good reason for it. The user who documented this issue did everything right, verified the file timestamps in Google Drive, confirmed the latest version opens correctly in Google Sheets, even tried forcing an offline download. None of it worked. The Excel app simply ignored the updated file and pulled an older copy from its own cache. That is not a quirk. It is a failure of the app to respect the source of truth.
The practical consequence is wasted time and eroded trust. Every time you need to check a spreadsheet on your phone, you are forced into a ritual: open the old version, discard changes, close the app, reopen from Drive. That is not a workflow; it is a workaround. And the suggested fix, clear the app cache manually before every use, is not a solution. It is an admission that the app cannot manage its own data. For anyone who relies on spreadsheets for real decisions, this is untenable. You should not have to choose between convenience and accuracy.
What makes this especially frustrating is that Google Sheets handles the same files, from the same Drive, without issue. The user proved that. So the bottleneck is not the cloud sync or the file format. It is the Excel mobile app's caching logic. It appears to prioritize a locally stored copy over the current version on Drive, even when the local copy is outdated. That is a design choice that prioritizes speed over correctness. And it is a choice that penalizes users who work across devices, which is almost everyone.
Our view is plain: this needs a fix, not a forum post. Microsoft should treat the mobile Excel app as a gateway to live data, not a vault for old copies. Until that changes, users face a simple calculus: either add extra steps to every file open, or switch to a tool that respects the most recent version the first time. The technology exists. The question is whether the app will catch up to what users already expect.