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ActiveX Controls Not Working -- I've Tried Everything

Anonymous
2023-03-07T15:19:26+00:00

I am having a very frustrating problem that presented itself yesterday when I added a line of code to a VBA workbook I was building. Basically, the workbook I am working on is a request form, full of ActiveX controls that a user inputs data into. There is also an option to attach files. When the form is submitted, it sends a PDF copy of the form/data and all attachments to a pre-determined list of people via Outlook. The coding/macros are not the problem. I entered one line of code that locked up Excel and disabled ActiveX as a result (OLE Control Extension). I have tried literally everything to get it to work again, including rebuilding the entire form in a new workbook to no avail. The issue still persists. I have removed the line of code that caused the problem in the first place, and that line of code never existed in the workbook I am currently trying to use.

Here is a copy of the error log from when Excel locked up and disabled ActiveX in the first place:

"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main">error168360_01.xmlErrors were detected in file --filename removed--/Form.xlsm'Removed Feature: Object from /xl/workbook.xml part (Workbook)Removed Feature: OLE Control Extension from /xl/workbook.xml part (Workbook)

Issue behavior: all of the ActiveX controls in my workbook are unusable. When I click in Text Boxes there is no cursor. If I type, and change the focus to a different Text Box, whatever I typed will show up, but not in real time. Command Buttons do nothing. No action is taken whatsoever when I click on Command Buttons.

Things I have tried so far:

1.) Rebuilding the workbook from scratch -- Result: issue persists

2.) Resetting ActiveX settings in Trust Center -- Result: issue persists

3.) Deleted registry key at Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel -- Result: issue is corrected, but reappears within 2 minutes (weirdest behavior I have ever seen)

4.) Started Excel in safe mode -- Result: issue gone sometimes, issue persists sometimes.. which is also odd..

5.) Deleted all .exd files from TEMP folders and rebooted computer -- Result: issue persists. No change.

ISSUE SOLVED: SEE MY LAST REPLY.

If anyone has any idea how I can possibly get the "OLE Control Extension" working again I would be so so so grateful. I am pulling what little hair I have left, out, over here.

Thanks.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-08-22T02:44:59+00:00

    Sorry, I never saw this reply. I actually figured out what was causing the issue more specifically than my original last reply. It's the scaling factor specifically. If you change the scaling factor on all monitors to be identical it eliminates the issue completely.

    I actually added a popup to the workbook I created to warn people about the scaling issue, with an option to open display settings to verify that scaling is identical on all screens. There's no way to read the scaling factors in VBA or adjust them, unfortunately, so relying on the user to verify the scaling factor manually is my only option. To date, the workbook I created has been used over 200 times to submit requests to a group in our company in PDF format with attachments and Excel files as well. It's been pretty successful and the number of times people have reached out to say that the form is unresponsive could be counted on one hand.

    Hope this helps.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-08T15:21:58+00:00

    So this issue has been *resolved* and I actually can't explain or wrap my head around what was actually happening and what the solution was..

    I have my laptop, and two additional external monitors. Whenever I am developing for Excel, I have the Visual Basic editor open on one external monitor, my Outlook open on the other external monitor, and the workbook I am developing open on my laptop screen. Over the course of the last few days, every time I was trying to test the workbook I was creating, I was doing so on one of the external monitors. ActiveX controls will not work at all. However, if I use the workbook on my LAPTOP MONITOR, everything works as intended/expected. I can NOT for the life of me explain this issue, what could possibly be causing it, or how I would potentially be able to fix it. I have tried adjusting the monitor settings, changing the resolution, changing the refresh rate, everything I could think of, and the problem persists on either of my external monitors. When I use the workbook on my LAPTOP screen, the issue is gone. It doesn't happen at all. The only time I tried to use the workbook on my laptop screen in the last few days were a few times that I opened Excel in safe mode. Those were the few times that the workbook was working normally, and I attributed it to safe mode, and not the monitors. Any time that I opened the workbook in safe mode, but on an external monitor, that was one of the times that it WOULDN'T even work in safe mode. This is the strangest behavior I have ever seen in Excel in my entire life. If anyone knows what could potentially cause this issue to happen, or a possible fix, please let me know. I have tried a different docking station and I have applied all Office and Windows updates (including one Windows update that was monitor specific). I have also tried updating the firmware of both of the docking stations that I tried to use. It had no affect. I am really stumped with this one and would love some insight. The only thing I have been able to deduce is that at some point on Monday, the number of ActiveX controls that I had embedded in the workbook became too much for the external display adapters to render, or something to that effect. I have no idea. I am completely lost here.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-08-22T18:44:35+00:00

    I just ran into the same issue. I moved the spreadsheet to the small monitor and it worked.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-01-20T12:14:44+00:00

    Yep, same problem here.
    I had other issues with excel on another monitor as well: If you have the windows explorer preview on and you select an excel file, the preview shows but starts doing strange things until excel crashes. Never got a solution for it.
    So there are some major problems with excel on a second monitor.

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  4. Rory Archibald 18,885 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-03-08T15:30:17+00:00

    My first question would be why are you using activex controls at all? Can you not use Form controls (which are more stable) or a userform?

    ActiveX controls have always been prone to weird behaviour - usually random resizing, especially if you use external monitors - and are best avoided. They also don't work at all on Macs.

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