Active X error

Question

I use Word with tabs 3 Practicemaster. In just moved from an older Windows laptop to a new Laptop. None of my old templates work - when I run the template, nothing fills in automatically from my Practicemaster file. When I try to create a new template using a blank .dotm or .docm template document, I get the error "Active X can't create object"; the error window has a title of "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications".

Needless to say, everything worked perfectly on the old machine. The part that has me stymied is whay I can't even create a new template (it wouldn't take me more than a couple of hours to recreate all of my templates) but Word will not even allow that.

I've gone through all the troubleshooting steps with this run-time 429 error and absolutely no luck. I even uninstalled,a dn then reinstalled Word.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Roland

San Jose, CA

Windows 11, Word (Office 365)

Answer 1

ActiveX is disabled by default in newer installations of Word. To enable it, choose File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings. Select the ActiveX Settings pane and try the setting Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions, then see if you can create a new template.

Answer 2

Run-time error 429 “ActiveX component can't create object” in Word templates that automate another application (such as Tabs3 PracticeMaster) indicates that Word/VBA cannot create the COM/ActiveX Automation object it is trying to use.

From the provided information, the documented causes for error 429 when automating Office/COM components are:

1. A mistake in the application code (for example, incorrect ProgID or using GetObject where it is not supported).
2. A system configuration problem.
3. A missing component.
4. A damaged component.

On the new machine, this most commonly means the Automation server (in this case, the Tabs3 PracticeMaster COM component that the templates call) is either:

• Not installed,
• Not correctly registered in the system registry, or
• Installed in a way that does not match how the VBA code is trying to create it (e.g., 32‑bit vs 64‑bit mismatch, or different version/ProgID).

Because the same templates worked on the old computer and fail on the new one, and reinstalling Office did not help, the focus should be on the non‑Office Automation component (Tabs3 PracticeMaster) and its integration with Word, not on Word itself.

The general resolution path for error 429 in this scenario is:

1. Verify that the Automation server is properly installed on the new PC.
2. Verify that the correct bitness (32‑bit vs 64‑bit) of Office matches what the Automation server expects.
3. Reinstall or repair the Automation server so that its COM components are correctly registered in the registry.
4. If the VBA code uses GetObject to attach to a class that does not support it, change the code to use CreateObject instead. Note that GetObject cannot be used to obtain a reference to a class created with Visual Basic.
5. If access to the object has been explicitly denied (for example, the object is locked or in use), ensure it is not locked and try again later.

If the issue persists after confirming the Tabs3 PracticeMaster integration is correctly installed and registered, the vendor’s documentation or support for Tabs3 PracticeMaster should be consulted, as the error indicates a problem with creating that specific Automation object rather than with Word itself.

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References:

• You receive run-time error 429 when you automate Office applications
• ActiveX component can't create object or return reference to this object (Error 429)