Embedded Excel 2007 workbook in Word 2007 document won't open. "Excel is not installed" error.

Anonymous
2010-03-08T20:45:01+00:00

I've seen this same problem frequently on other message boards and there has never been a solution, so I'm hoping that Microsoft is aware of it (they should be) and can address it definitively.

I have a Word 2007 document with an embedded Excel 2007 spreadsheet.  When I attempt to open the spreadsheet I get the message: "The program used to create this object is Excel.  That program is not installed on your computer. To edit this object, you must install a program that can open the object.".  Excel is in fact installed.  If I have Excel closed when I attempt to open the embedded spreadsheet then Excel actually opens, but then it does not open the embedded workbook and Word immediately gives the above message after Excel opens.

This is the same problem as is addressed in KB article 960806, except that I do not have "SQL Server 2008 Data Mining Add-ins for Office 2007" installed

I have run MS Office Diagnostics and no errors were reported. 

I have "Repaired" the installation from add/remove programs.  After I did this the embedded workbook appeared as a picture in the document and I couldn't even attempt to open it.

I have tried deselecting "ignore DDE" in Excel Options > Advanced > General

I have tried converting the embedding object to a binary object and back again.

The embedded workbook is a macro-enabled workbook, I don't know if it also happens for non-macro-enabled workbooks.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2012-02-11T04:22:08+00:00

Had the same issue; disabling Goodle Cloud Connect add-in in both Word and Excel solved it for me. It might help to try disabling all the installed add-ins.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-10-06T07:26:19+00:00

    I believe I have traced the source of the problem to Office 2007 SP2.

    One user had a particular docx file, had the issue in first post.

    • repairing the installation didn't fix
    • re-installing Office from scratch didn't fix
    • couldn't right-click and convert the object (an error I can't remember off the top of my head)
    • Data mining tools add-on wasn't installed, but I tried installing anyway, then removing and reparing the installation as suggested, no success.
    • Sometimes I could get office to prompt me an add-in was not installed (but wouldn't tell me what wasn't installed) when trying to edit the object, and I would allow it to install the necessary add-in. This didn't seem to fix the problem as the same errors came up when trying to edit the object after add-in install completed.

    I had two more machines handy (all running XP SP2/3 and using Office 2007 Pro). One had Office 2007, other had Office 2007 SP2. The Office SP2 machine had the same problem as the first Office SP2 machine, the second running Office 2007 only (NO SP2) could use the exact same document with no problems.

    The only issue for me, on the original machine, I need SP2 as its using Outlook with RPC over HTTP. As an ugly workaround, another version of Office without SP2 can convert the object to something like Excel Binary, then convert again back to normal Excel, and the first machine is now able to edit the document normally.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-03-14T06:56:14+00:00

    Try the below mentioned steps:

    Right-clicking on the Excel objects.

    1. Click Worksheet Object -> Convert.
    2. Choose Microsoft Office Excel Binary Worksheet
    3. Click OK

    After it converts it to a Binary worksheet, you can then repeat the processand choose Microsoft Office Excel Worksheet

    Ruchi Bisht

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-03-08T22:01:18+00:00

    I've resolved the object showing as a picture issue by using system restore to go back to before I "repaired" the office installation.  The original issue of not being able to open an embedded Excel workbook still remains.

    It seems to be related to the specific object.  When I embed another excel workbook in the document - a different version of the same workbook that's already embedded, also macro-enabled - then I'm able to open that no problem, but the original embedded right next to it won't open.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-03-08T21:19:36+00:00

    I have no problems opening macro-enabled workbooks that are not embedded in word documents, only embedded ones.  Excel is the default program.

    Right now I can't even test new suggested solutions as my embedded worksheet is showing up as a picture in my word document since I "repaired" my Office installation.

    BTW: I'm using Office 2007 SP2 and Windows XP Pro SP3

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