Excel – Add-Ins not loaded in Excel, when started via opening a file

microsoft excelmicrosoft-excel-2010team-foundation-server

I'm using Excel 2010 with TFS 2010.

  • When I start Excel directly, "Team" and "Load Test" are loaded.

  • But, if I double click on an Excel file, then Excel started without loading "Team" and "Load Test".

The settings are fine: "Team" – "Load at Startup"; "Load Test" – "Load on Demond".

As a workaround, currently, I firstly start Excel, then "File -> Open" to open a file contains TFS queries, to connect to TFS server.

How can I directly open Excel files, and still with "Team" loaded?

Here is a screenshot showing Excel with add-ins loaded when started by clicking on the executable in the start menu (top image) and without add-ins when Excel is started by double clicking on a file (bottom image).

This probably doesn't have to do with specific add-ons, as the same behavior can be observed for different add-ons (PMN).

Two versions of Excel.

Best Answer

The problem is likely a phantom EXCEL.EXE process. Close out all versions of Excel, then go to Task Manager. In the 'Processes' tab, look for an EXCEL.EXE process. If you find one, end it.

My problem was similar. I had two instances of Excel, a good one and a bad one. When I double-clicked on any Excel file, the file would open in a bad instance of Excel that didn't have any add-ins (or my PERSONAL.XLSB workbook, which was the cause of my concern). If I opened Excel from a shortcut on my taskbar, however, it would start a good instance right up, no problem, add-ins and everything. After a ton of Googling, I figured I should look at the Task Manager to see how my instances were working. Sure enough, the bad instance stayed open (but hidden) even after closing Excel. Ending that process fixed the problem.

Related Question