Internal error when clicking on Open 3dmaps

Question

I verified I have the latest version, clicked on: Abort, Retry, Ignore. Same result, can't get in.

Answer 1

Hello @Eduardo Gutierrez,  

Thank you for reaching out to the Q&A forum! 

Based on the error message, the issue is caused by the following exception:  System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. 

This means that the 3D Maps add‑in failed to initialize properly. When Excel tries to open 3D Maps, one of the internal components that the add‑in depends on is missing, corrupted, or not created correctly. 

So, here are steps you can try:  

1.Open Excel in Safe Mode: 

• You press and hold the Ctrl key, then click or double-click the Excel icon.   
• You keep holding Ctrl until you see a prompt asking if you want to start Excel in Safe Mode. Then, you release Ctrl and click Yes.   

If you can open in Safe Mode, an add-in may be causing the issue. 

• You go to File => Options => Add-ins.      
• At the bottom, you choose COM Add-ins => click Go. You should uncheck all add-ins to identify the culprit. 

2.Repair your Office installation: 

You can try exit all Office applications and then running an Online Repair for Microsoft Office:    

• You select Apps in setting => Installed apps => scroll down to find Office.          
• You click on it, then select Modify.           
• When prompted by User Account Control (UAC), you need to click Yes. 

• In the window that appears, you can select Quick Repair first. If the issue persists, you choose Online Repair for a deeper fix.

Note: For Online Repair, this will reinstall Office and may take a few minutes, but it won’t affect your documents or settings.   

For reference: Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support 

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If the issue still occurs after trying the steps above, could you please provide a bit more information to help me investigate further: 

1. Does 3D Maps crash on every Excel file, or only on a specific workbook? 
2. Have you also tried reinstalling Excel? 
3. I noticed your profile is marked as a business account. Could you confirm whether the account you’re using is truly a work or school account managed by your organization, and not a personal Microsoft account such as outlook.com or hotmail.com?

Please understand that our initial response may not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to identify the root cause and find a solution.                    

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

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Answer 2

Hello, Eduardo Gutierrez I would recommend these solutions. Let me know if they help.

1. Repair Office
   • Go to Control Panel → Programs → Programs and Features.
   • Select Microsoft Office → Change → Quick Repair (try Online Repair if the issue persists).
2. Re-enable or Reset the 3D Maps Add-in
   • Open Excel → File → Options → Add-ins.
   • At the bottom, choose COM Add-ins → Go.
   • Uncheck Microsoft Power Map for Excel, click OK, then reopen Excel and re-enable it.
3. Delete the 3D Maps Cache
   • Navigate to: C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Power Map
   • Delete or rename the folder to reset the cache.
4. Check for Updates
   • Ensure Excel is fully updated via File → Account → Update Options → Update Now.
5. Test in Safe Mode
   • Run Excel in Safe Mode (excel /safe from Run dialog).
   • If it works, another add-in may be conflicting — disable them one by one.
6. Recreate the Workbook
   • If the issue occurs only in one file, copy the data to a new workbook and recreate the 3D Map.