Cannot open any excel file when excel.exe is hidden in Task Manager.

[Sean]

I have about 60 users who are heavy Excel users. Every so often I get
a call that they cannot open any Excel file. When I check it out I
find that even though they do not have any Excel file listed in the
taskbar they do have it listed under processes in the Task manager.
When I end task on excel.exe they are then able to use Excel.

I have seen this a number of different times, on different computers.
Some are running Excel 2000 while others are using Excel XP. It does
seem to happen more on XP. It also seems to happen more for people
who use a lot of files at once.

Does anyone know of a fix for this or a resolution that would help
prevent the Excel from being opened in Processes but not accessable?

 

[Dave Peterson]

I think you've found the solution.

It might be easier (for you) to teach the users to do this themselves, or you
could just say: "Try rebooting."

Or maybe you can leave behind a .VBS file that looks for an instance of excel
and unhides it:

dim myXL
On Error Resume Next
Set myXL = GetObject(, "Excel.Application")
If Err.Number = 429 Then
msgbox "excel is not running"
else
myxl.visible = true
end If
On Error GoTo 0
Set myxl = nothing


Save the file as UnhideXL.VBS and have the user double click on it when they
don't see excel running. (if there's a visible instance, this may find that one
and unhide it. And that wouldn't help.)