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How to Repair Microsoft Excel
What to do if add-ins do not run

If you are getting error messages like "error in module 1", "unspecified error", or "undefined reference", the problem is not with our add-ins!  It is a problem with the installation of Office.  Random Excel crashes, especially when Excel is closing, are also an indication of a bad installation of Office

  • We have tracked some crashes of Excel 2010 and above to still having Excel 2003 on the PC and Excel 2003 being corrupted.  Do the repair on all releases of Office you have, even if you are not using a particular release and just kept it installed.
  • Another cause we have found for random crashes are partially corrupt workbooks.  How do they get corrupt?  More ways than one to count. One we have noticed is corrupt workbooks made outside of Excel.  Sometimes they work fine. Sometimes they done.  The solution in this case is to realize it is workbook dependent.  Then, the solution is to create new workbooks.  And doing copying of sheets to a new workbook is not the solution. Do copy and paste special values, and recreate formulas and graphs.
  • The number one cause is still a bad or corrupt installation of Office, which the steps below provide solutions.

The following are the steps to take to do the fix this problem by fixing Microsoft Office.  Keys to fixing Excel are:

  • Do the multiple reboots as instructed.  A royal pain, but essential.
  • Run the Temp File Deleter, all options, multiple times, as instructed.
  • After rebooting, never open Excel or any other Office program until instructed to do so.  Opening Outlook to do a quick check of your mail during the process will screw up the fixes. The same goes for Power Point to fix a presentation, etc.  Office programs use common files.  Opening any part of the Office Suite may prevent the steps from working.
  • Do the repair of Excel last. Do not skip it.

If the message you are getting is an out of memory error or not enough resources, then either you do not have enough memory on your PC, you are running too many programs, multiple instances of Excel, or have many COM or VBA add-ins installed.   See memory problems for how to fix.

REPAIR STEPS BY EXCEL VERSION

Window 10 and Office 365, Excel 2019-2021

  • Reboot (important!) - this insures any file used by Office is fully released.
  • Right click on the Windows start button, and select Control Panel, Programs and Settings.
  • Find Office and either click on it and then Change up at the top, or right click and select Change.
  • A repair options dialog will appear. There is both a quick repair and an online repair.
  • Do the quick repair, Open Excel and see if all is fixed.
  • If not, close Excel and do the online repair

Excel 2013-2021 / Office 365

  • Reboot (important!) - this insures any file used by Office is fully released.
  • Open Excel
  • Click File, Account
  • In the right-side panel that appears, on the right side is the setting of your Office update. Confirm that it is set to update automatically. If not, click the button there and set to update automatically.
  • If you had to change the button to update automatically, let it run any update.
  • If you had to run an update, close and re-open Excel and then see if the problem is fixed.
  • If the problem is not fixed, then:
    • Reboot AGAIN (important!) - this insures any file used by Office is fully released.
    • Go to Programs and Features in Settings, Control Panel
    • Right click on Microsoft Office and select "Change" (do not double click as that presents only the option to un-install)
    • You are presented with two options: A quick repair or an online repair. Try the quick repair first.  If it does not solve, then reboot again and do the online repair.  Do not skip the reboot!

Excel 2010 Users:

  • Reboot (important!) - this insures any file used by Office is fully released.
  • Run the Temp File Deleter, all options.  Do not open Excel or any Office program until instructed.
  • Install Service Pack 2 for Office 2010. For some users, the Service Pack will not recognize your version. We have posted this issue to Microsoft and are hoping for resolution. If you cannot install, do the Control Panel/Repair steps below then try to run the service pack.
  • Run the Temp File Deleter again
  • Go to the Control Panel. If Windows XP, open Add/Remove Programs. If Windows 7, it is Programs and Features
  • Right click on Office 2010 and run the Repair or Change option (sometimes service packs do not do a perfect job)
  • Open Excel and all should work fine

Excel 2007 Users:

  • Reboot (important!) - this insures any file used by Office is fully released.
  • Run the Temp File Deleter, all options.  Do not open Excel or any Office program until instructed.
  • Install the latest service pack, SP3Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Office 2007.  Do from this link.  Do not Open Excel.
  • Reboot again!
  • Run the Temp File Deleter again, all options.  Do not open Excel before running the Temp File Deleter again.
  • Do a Repair of Excel:
    • Re-open Excel for the first time
    • Click the Office Button, Excel Options, and Resources again
    • To the right of "run Microsoft Office Diagnostics", click the button "Diagnose". 
    • If Office advises that Diagnostics were recently run, click the button "Run Diagnostics Again".  Installing any service pack or upgrade almost always causes bugs in Office.  Even though Diagnostics may report that no problems were found, it will find and fix some problems (we've seen it happen).
    • If a description of why you should run Diagnostics appears, click the Continue button
    • Close the Resources dialog and Excel as soon as a Microsoft Office Diagnostics screen appears.  This will not close the Diagnostics screen. Then click the Run Diagnostics button.  If a choice of diagnostics to be run is given, select all of them.

Excel 2003 Users:

  • Reboot (important!) - this insures any file used by Office is fully released.
  • Run the Temp File Deleter, all options.  Do not open Excel or any Office program until instructed.
  • Install the latest service pack, SP3Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Office 2003
  • Reboot
  • Run the Temp File Deleter again, all options.  Do not open Excel before running the Temp File Deleter again.
  • Do a repair of Excel:
    • Open Excel
    • Select Help, Detect and Repair.
    • A dialog will appear with an option to restore your shortcuts.  Make certain it is checked.
    • Click the start button on this dialog.  Even though repair may report that no problems were found, it will find and fix some problems (we've seen it happen).

If all the above fails, re-install of Office.  To maximize your chance of success, do it this way:

  • Make certain you have your CDs and license keys before doing these steps.
  • Reboot (important!) - this insures any file used by Office is fully released.
  • Go to Control Panel, Select Office and un-install Office (do not re-open any part of Office after the reboot).
    • Excel 2013 users: Un-installing may result in a lost license and Microsoft will not replace.  Contact them first.
  • Reboot again (this finishes the un-install). 
  • Run the Temp File Deleter. Run all the options. Run after the reboot.
  • Reboot again. Yes, again!  Reboots insure your PC is clear of any residual actions from the above.
  • Do another complete un-install (yes another uninstall) using the un-install options found at this Microsoft page.  Use Option 2 is far easier than Option 1.
  • Re-install Office.  Do not open Excel, Outlook, or any part of Office when done.
  • Reboot again and run the Temp File Deleter a second time.  Run all options.
  • Do not open Excel or any part of Office.  Install the latest service pack per above instructions. (it was removed when Office was removed).
  • Reboot again. Do not open Excel or any part of Office.  Run the Temp File Deleter a third time.  Run all options.
  • Open Excel. for the first time and immediately do a repair of Excel (per instructions above). 
  • Close Excel.
  • Re-install the add-ins.
  • Open Excel and see if the add-ins work.
  • If the add-ins still do not work, reboot again and run the Temp File Deleter a third time.  Run all options.
  • Run Windows Update.  This will see if Microsoft has released any special fixes for Office and Excel that are needed on your PC.
  • See if the add-ins work.

If the above does not solve:

  • One of our users found that the installation of Windows 11 was bad.  What they did was to roll back to Windows 10 and then reinstalled Windows 11.   Kind of a last resort, but worth doing.


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