Excel 2016 - Com Add-In: Inquire - Not loaded. A runtime error occurred during the loading of the COM Add-In

Question

The COM Add-In appears under the Inactive Application Add-ins section, when attempting to use the Manage COM Add-ins feature to enable I continue to receive the error "A runtime error occurred during the loading of the COM Add-In.". Everything on the internet refers to Office 2013 still being able to utilize this add-in, while Microsoft themselves state 2016 in some of their literature the majority of their information refers back to 2013. I do have Office Professional Plus 2016 installed as well.

What you can do with Spreadsheet Inquire in Excel 2016 for Windows

If Microsoft Office 365 or Office Professional Plus 2013 is installed on your computer, the Spreadsheet Inquire add-in is available in Excel.

https://support.office.com/en-US/article/What-you-can-do-with-Spreadsheet-Inquire-in-Excel-2016-for-Windows-5444eb12-14a2-4d82-b527-45b9884f98cf

COM Add-in Name: Inquire

Publisher: Microsoft Corporation

Path ... Office15\DCF\NativeShim.dll

Desc: NativeShim Inquire Addins used by SpreadsheetIQ

At this point I've reviewed all registry information, attempted to transfer usable 2013 files as well as consulted other forums where users have experienced the same issue. Any resolution would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.reddit.com/r/excel/comments/3m00nb/excel_2016_missing_feature/

Answer 1

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your help investigating this issue.  The good news is that we have a fix for this problem, and it's scheduled to be released in an update this week.  Once you get the update, check your Office version number in Excel by going to File > Account > About Excel.  The version number should say 16.0.6528 or greater if you have the update that includes the fix for this issue with Inquire.

Thanks,

Steve (MS)

Answer 2

Hi All - Thanks for providing all the information on this issue.  We have been able to reproduce the issue and are working on getting a fix published as soon as we can.  Some of you reported that this was happening in 64-bit Office installations, but from our investigation, we have found that only 32-bit installations are affected, so the quick fix that you can do is to uninstall the 32-bit version of Office, and install the 64-bit version instead. I know this may not be a good option if you are using add-ins that have not been made compatible with 64-bit, but it is an option.

I don't yet have the timeline for the fix, but as I said, we will try to provide it as soon as we can.

Thanks,

Steve K (Microsoft)

Answer 3

Hi Steve

Below is a screenshot of the Excel version I have.

Regards

Andrew

Answer 4

I can confirm that reinstalling with the 64bit version is a valid workaround.

Answer 5

Same issue here.  Can't seem to activate the add-in and the error looks familiar.  My version, just installed:

Excel 2016 (16.0.6366.2062).

Would look forward to a solution to this.

Rick