How can I make Excel 2007 addins available to all users

[r_olson]

I teach at a university. We have the enterprise edition of Office
2007 installed in each of our labs. Each computer has Office
installed on its own hard disk. It isn't housed on a separate
server. The system is set up so that each student logs on the the
machine with their own username. This seems to be creating some
problems with Excel addins.

1) We need the Solver and Analysis ToolPaks available to all students
essentially all the time without needing to turn them on by navigating
the Office Button> Excel Options> Addins.... sequences. Our techs
have tried a few things, but when a new user logs on it looks like
they need to go through the process of adding the tools. The way the
security is set up on the machines, the user profile goes away when
it's rebooted so every student would need to select the tool and wait
a couple of minutes while Excel installs the tool. Is there a way for
an administrator to install Excel addins/tools so that they
automatically appear for all users?

2) This is similar to 1). I also have a set of Excel 2003 .xla files
that I use in one of my classes. On my personal machine I was able to
place them in Docs&Settings\myspace\Application Data\Microsoft
\Addins. They then appear
in the "Addin" box on the Excel 2007 ribbon. Is there a way that we
can install my third party addins so that every user in the lab
automatically sees them in an Addin box on the ribbon?

Thanks in advance--
Rick

 

[Rick Rothstein \(MVP - VB\)]

1) We need the Solver and Analysis ToolPaks available to all students

essentially all the time without needing to turn them on by navigating
the Office Button> Excel Options> Addins.... sequences.

If macros are enabled, have your techs look into putting this code...

AddIns("analysis toolpak").Installed = True
AddIns("solver add-in").Installed = True

in an event that is common to all students (Workbook_Open event of a
standard worksheet template, Personal.xls for each student, etc.)

Rick