OFF95: Error Adding Excel Worksheet or Workbook to Binder (133344)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Office Binder, when you add a Microsoft Excel worksheet to a Binder, one of the following may occur:

If you add the worksheet as a blank section, you receive the following error message
The section could not be added to the Binder. An unexpected communications error has occurred on the server.
and the section does not appear in the Binder.
If you add an existing Microsoft Excel workbook file to a Binder, you receive the following error message:
The section could not be activated in Binder or viewed outside in its own window. The section will be displayed as an icon in Binder.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if Microsoft Excel is not running when you add the worksheet or workbook to the Binder and if a number of add-in files are loading when you start Microsoft Excel.

This behavior occurs because when you add a Microsoft Excel worksheet to a Binder, an invisible instance of Microsoft Excel is started. If Microsoft Excel takes too long to start; for example, if you have seven different add- ins loading, the OLE process involved in adding the file to the Binder times out, and you receive the error messages described above. This problem does not occur if Microsoft Excel is running, because the add-ins that are automatically loaded when you start Microsoft Excel are already loaded.

By default, when you perform a complete installation of Microsoft Excel, only four add-ins are loaded automatically, and this problem does not occur.

Note that if you attempt to add a Microsoft Excel worksheet to a Binder as a blank section after receiving either of the above error messages, you receive the following error message:

The section could not be added to the Binder. The file already exists.

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, use either of the following methods.

Method 1: Reduce the number of add-ins that are loaded automatically in Microsoft Excel. To do this, use the following steps:

Start Microsoft Excel.
On the Tools menu, click Add-Ins.
In the Add-Ins Available list, clear the check box next to any of the add-ins that you do not need to load automatically.
Click OK.

Method 2: Start Microsoft Excel before you add a Microsoft Excel worksheet to a Binder.