proc export with labels, but not working with the label statement

[orchid_sugar]

I have a dataset with labels that I want to export to excel, but the label statement won't turn blue or export the label. 'About SAS 9' indicates I have SAS 9.4 TS Level 1M5, so the label statement should work... putnames doesn't work either. I tried to rename the variable itself, but they contain special characters (e.g. #). How can I export the dataset to excel with labels?

proc export 
	data=missingReport 
	outfile="C:location\filename.xlsx" 
	dbms=xlsx
	label replace;
	sheet="missingFacilities";
run;

[Tom · Accepted solution]

Works fine for me:

data class;
  set sashelp.class;
  label name='Student Name';
run;

proc export label data=class dbms=xlsx
  file='c:\downloads\labels.xlsx' replace;
run;

Make sure to attach the labels BEFORE the PROC EXPORT step.

You don't have to make a copy of the dataset, you can use PROC DATASETS to modify the labels without copying the dataset.

If the variable names do not meet SAS naming rules then you will need to use name literals in the LABEL statement.

label 'job#'n ='Job Number';