CODEWITHSUNDEEP
exceladd-inhistorian
karnati8
karnati8

Reputation: 1

Excel Add-In only works when doing a disable and enable

We are using a 3rd party Add-In in Excel which for some reason does not work on my machine but on everyone else's. The weird thing is that when you disable and enable the add-in, it starts working and the tab shows on top. But if you save the doc and reopen it, the tab is gone again and the links it is supposed to update does not work again.

Not sure if it's the particular add-in, but let me name it in any case, it's called 'Historian Client Workbook'.

I'm using Excel 2013.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 3353

Answers (3)

Prox
Prox

Reputation: 61

I had this problem and it was related to a security patch that prevents Add-in from executing if its path is not in the "Trusted Locations". The diagnostic was pretty the same, the Add-In works the first time, but it was disabled everytime Excel was closed and reopenned. Disabling and re-enabling make it work again up to next time Excel is closed. By coincidence, it happened to a plugin I developed to our Historian database.

You find the solution here, which I copied bellow:

Put Add-In folder in "Trusted Locations"

  1. Open the Trusted Locations menu. File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>Trusted Locations
  2. Press the "Add new location…" button.
  3. Click the "Browse…" button.
  4. Navigate to the folder that contains your add-in files and press OK.
  5. If your add-ins are organized in subfolders then click the “Subfolders of this location are also trusted” checkbox.
  6. Press OK, then press OK again on the Trust Center Window.
  7. Close and re-open Excel.

Unblock the Add-In file

  1. Locate the Add-in file (.xla, .xlam) in Windows Explorer.

  2. Right-click the file and select Properties.

  3. At the bottom of the General tab you should see a Security section. Check the box that says Unblock.

  4. Press the OK button.

  5. Close Excel completely and re-open it. The add-in should now load and any custom ribbons will appear.

Upvotes: 0

Dan Nobles
Dan Nobles

Reputation: 1

Unfortunately, the registry "fix" doesn't always work. We use an IBM iSeries add-in to "Transfer Data to AS400" and "Transfer Data from AS400". Due to the fact that Microsoft keeps changing how addins work, IBM is no longer going to change their addin every time MS decides to break it. Here is the workaround: For Excel, make a shortcut, goto properties and in the program path add: /X after the quotations in the path. This forces Excel to start as a new process, not just a new thread of the same instance. Hope this helps. More information: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1019966

Upvotes: 0

Tom
Tom

Reputation: 461

You could check the value of the LoadBehavior key in the registry on your machine and confirm the value is set to 3 for that add-in so it loads at startup.

Start > Run > regedit, then browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\application name\Addins.

Here are some more details from MSFT about LoadBehavior: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386106.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396#LoadBehavior

If you are new to editing values in the registry, I'd recommend exporting all the values by right-clicking the top-level Computer node and exporting the registry to keep as a backup.

Upvotes: 0

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