Word 2010 - Cannot edit embedded excel tables after closing document

Anonymous
2010-09-07T12:14:32+00:00

Hi folks

I recently upgraded from Office 2007 to Office 2010. My system is a acer 6593 laptop running Windows 7 Professional with 4GB ram (3GB usable by windows)

I have an issue with Word 2010 and embedded excel tables. I am able to create a word document and insert the excel table therein (using insert-> table -> excel speadsheet). I am also able to edit the table onc created, and manipulate it. However, as soon as I save and close the word document, I am no longer able to edit (or convert for that matter) the excel object.

The error message given is "The program used to create this object is Excel. That program is either not installed on your computer or it is not responding. To edit this object, install Excel or ensure that any dialog boxes in Excel are closed"

I have tried to completely repair and un-install office 2010, as well as running a cleanup tool to ensure the un-install was completely removed.

The created word document excel tables are editable in other people office 2007 installations. (there is no-one esle with office 2010 for me to try). so I am unsure whether it an issue with my specific office instalation or office 2010 in general.

As I say, the office 2007 trick of converting to a excel binary file does not work, giving an error massage*"the server application, source file, or item cannot be found. make sure the application is properly installed, and that is has not been deleted, moved, renamed, or blocked by policy".*

Also, although I cannot edit existing excel tables, I am able to add new ones to the word document and edit them, again until I save and close.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-07-17T22:42:35+00:00

I was experiencing this issue in Word 2010.

I was able to fix it by disabling all COM Add-ins in Excel 2010. I only had the one add-in, another system on our network had multiple add-ins. (for instructions on disabling the add-ins see below)

Close word, and open a blank Excel worksheet. In Excel go to file>options>add-ins. Then down the bottom select COM Add-ins from the drop down menu and hit go. Uncheck everything hit ok. Close the options menu close Excel. Now open your word document and try to edit your embedded files. They should now work without a problem.

I make no promises, but this worked for me :)

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-01-26T01:05:00+00:00

    Thanks for the hint, this worked for me. Saved me a lot of headache.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-04T19:36:08+00:00

    This worked wonderfully for me on a customer's excel problem. Thanks.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-21T21:48:41+00:00

    The inability to edit embedded excel tables is not limited to people who use powerpivot. Nearly every user in my environment experiences this issue with regularity and none have access to powerpivot. Particularly when word docs are stored on a network path and multiple people are accessing them.

    We found that changing the document extension to a ".zip" and looking in the "Word" > "embeded" folder would often get you access to the spreadsheet so that you can at least re-embed it into the document and edit it again.

    I think it's just a bug with office. I've seen it happen where the spreadsheet wasn't in the folder but then opening an older version of the same file would have the spreadsheet in the embed folder (even though the embedded version was a picture and couldn't be edited).

    Something is causing those embedded documents to disappear out of that folder over time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-02-14T14:28:46+00:00

    Thanks hazzzaa.  This was a big issue for me and your solution worked perfectly.  You saved me hours!

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