Refedit boxes disappearing (Refedit add-in, Excel for Windows)

Question

I have an add-in that works fine on many PCs but on several PCs it has stopped working with a compile error. On examination, we found that all the refedit boxes had been removed from all dialogs. This happens the moment the file is opened. Just a blank space on the dialog where they were. And obviously the code refers to the missing refedits and thus the compile error. The refedit controls should not just disappear on file opening. If the add-in from a PC with the problem is copied to another PC, it works fine. The refedit controls appear.

We've done a repair of excel, an un-install (using a special Microsoft tool to do a complete un-install) and re-install, deleted EXD files, re-registered Excel, did the latest Office update, run chkdsk and checked windows (with sfc). Nothing solved.

On several of the PCs nothing has been installed between the add-in working and not working. All that have happened is Windows did an update and Office did an update between when the add-in worked and didn't work (this ranged from a few days to a few weeks).

We suspect that a key file has become corrupted. But no idea which file. We're down to reformatting the hard drive and re-installing software but want to avoid that solution.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

All my refedit controls had disappeared from my add-in. After reinserting them one by one, it started working again.Thanks

Answer 2

Hamilton, please provide us with more details. After correcting the activeX setting and closing and reopening excel, what is the error and the line of code causing the error. Are refedit controls still disappearing? Is the ActiveX control setting staying to your new setting or is it flipping back to none allowed?

Answer 3

I've had this appear on two customer machines. Resolution/workaround was to alter the ActiveX control trust level.

File->Options->Trust Center->Trust Center Settings->ActiveX Settings.

You probably have it set to Disable all controls without notification but if you set it to the next level of Prompt me before Unsafe for Initialization (UFI) controls with additional restrictions and Safe for Initialization (SFI) controls with minimal restrictions you will probably find your workbooks are working again. You should close the workbook and re-open it, at a minimum.

Has worked for me 2 for 2 times.

Answer 4

There has been no resolution - RefEdit are still disappearing. Add-ins are being opened as read on and are digitally signed and still the ref edits disappear. We also tried rebuilding add-ins with no luck. It is happening on a few more machines each week. Microsoft tech wants to try different solutions but affected users so far don’t trust that Microsoft will not screw up their PCs. And none of our PCs are affected. If you can contact Microsoft as you have an affected pc, hopefully they will fix with an update

Answer 5

Hi @Bob Flanagan,

Thanks for reaching out to the Q&A forum.

Regarding your concern about an add-in has compile error on several PCs.  For this case, as forum moderators, we don’t have access to the detailed logs or backend systems needed to troubleshoot this effectively due to potential customized add-ins and environments on your end. For that reason, the most efficient solution would be to contact Microsoft’s support team directly. Microsoft’s support team will need to step in. A technical support engineer can perform a remote session to investigate the situation, verify the backend configurations, and run any necessary synchronization tools to resolve the problem. Since the issue requires further attention, they can escalate it to a specialized team for deeper analysis.  You can reach Microsoft Support directly for deeper diagnostics at: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn 

  

Phone Support: Microsoft provides customer service phone numbers based on your region. You can find the appropriate contact number here.    

   

Ticket Support: In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center>Support>Help & Support. You can raise support ticket    

https://admin.microsoft.com/#/support/requests    

   

Should you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. 

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.