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View Full Version : Solved: Where have all the add-ins gone?



MWE
03-20-2005, 10:37 AM
I am running WinXP and Office2000. In the last two days I have encountered several strange errors or inconsistencies when opening Excel:



At the bottom of the Excel Tools menu is a "supplemental" menu that normally identifes available add-ins that are active. This is not Tools | Addins where you can select add-ins. If only Excel is open/running, the (active) add-ins menu picks are where they should be. But if another MS application is open, say Word, or Project, and I open an Excel file, the add-in menu is blank. If I navigate to Tools | Addins, the add-ins that are supposed to be active are checked. :banghead:
When you open Excel, Excel also opens any files it finds in XLSTART. If only Excel is open/running, the Personal.xls file in XLSTART is opened and available. But if I hyperlink to an Excel application from any other MS application, say Word, or Project, Personal.xls is not opened.:banghead::banghead:
It gets better: Even when Personal.xls is available, any attempt to open a file by one of the Personal.xls procedures fails. These are routines that have run flawlessly for months (even years) using hardcoded directories and filenames. These routines all have error check code that displays what went wrong. The directories and filename are correct. The directories and files are still where they have always been:banghead::banghead::banghead:
I have done no updates to the opsys or MSOffice in months. I am quite diligent about keeping anti-virus and anti-malware programs up to date. I ran a full systems check for viruses (Norton 2005) using the latest signature files; 100% clean. I ran 4 anti-malware programs (SpyBot, Lavesoft SE, SpySweeper and the MS beta stuff) with the latest signature files; 100% clean (amazing!).

Any thoughts about what might be happening here?


UPDATE (20Mar'05; 17:48 hrs)
After numerous reboots and playing around, I have just about eliminated problem #3. After a lot of testing with different applications, I have concluded that problem #1 (no add-ins) only occurs when hyperlinking to Excel targets from non-Excel parents. Further, it seems that the revised problem #1 and problem #2 are really two symptoms of the same problem, i.e., Excel is being started "differently from normal" when Excel targets are opened via hyperlinks from non-Excel parents. This problem is for both VBA followhyperlink method and manually construted hyperlinks.

In addition to the lack of XLSTART files being opened, there is another symptom of different Excel startups. When an Excel file with macros is opened normally, there is a standard Macro Warning window that appears. But when that same file is opened via a hyperlink, a different Macro Warning window appears. I believe that until a few days ago, the same style window appeared regardless of how the file was opened. I have attached a zipped word doc (ExcelProblems.zip) with screen captures of both windows.

SherryO
02-21-2006, 09:25 AM
Hi. I have just run into this exact same problem. I am opening Excel from a MSProject VBA, but my add-ins aren't loading. I am even installing them when I open an Excel file then closing Excel and starting it again, but the addi-ins still aren't there. Do you have a go around for this? I know this post is old, but it's my exact problem, so I thought I would ping you before setting a new post. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, SheeryO

XLGibbs
02-21-2006, 12:21 PM
Sherry you can "force" the addin's to be installed by using the excel application object you open and applying the following syntax:


With Excel.Application
.Addins("Analysis Tookpak").Installed = True
End With



However, is it possible that the add in directory (Office\Library\addins or something) to the MS Project location?

I know that creating an instance of excel programmatically does not necessarily open it as it does from the XLStart menu..

SherryO
02-21-2006, 12:38 PM
I had inheirited this project and I thought that this was already covered in the open event, but he had it if this add-in is not installed, then install it. It was returning a false positive. Excel thought it was installed, but it really wasn't. I went the other direction and set them to false, then reset them to positive and it worked. As always THANK YOU!