Toolbars change for no apparent reason

[cmxl]

Excel 2000--in Tools/customize/toolbars I normally select the standard,
formatting, drawing, & worksheet menu toolbars, plus a Spreadsheet Assistant
(an add-in) toolbar. I customize some of these toolbars with added command
buttons from Tools/customize/Commands. Sometimes when I open Excel, I find
the Spreadsheet Assistant toolbar floating instead of its normal position
where I left it the day before, the Drawing toolbar missing (unchecked in
Tools/customize/toolbars), and all my added command buttons have
disappeared. Anything to do with windows or office Automatic Updating? What
else could cause these changes? This happens maybe 2-3 times per year, and
has been happening for the past couple of years.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I wonder if you have multiple versions of your *.xlb file. You update one, but
the one excel uses isn't getting updated.

The first thing I would do is reset my toolbar by deleting the associated
toolbar file (*.xlb).

Close excel
use windows search to look for *.xlb
and delete all that you find (or move them to a safe location if you're worried)

And remember to look through hidden folders, too. People can have trouble
finding them.

If you can't find your files using windows start button|Search, then you could
use an old DOS command to search and delete/move them

Windows Start button|Run
type:
CMD
(to get to the Command prompt)

C:
(to get to the C: drive--change this to the drive that excel is installed on)

cd\
(to get to the root directory)

dir *.xlb /s

The /s says to search subfolders, too.

Make a note of the locations of the found files.

And delete/move them.

Then reopen excel and do some minor modifications. Then close and reopen excel
to see if it worked.

If it worked, make your real changes.

If it didn't work, put your *.xlb file back (if you want).

 

[cmxl]

Very interesting! First, THANK YOU for your fast and thorough reply!
Here is what I found: there are 22 xlb files for Open Office, which is
something I tried once out of curiosity. Nothing else showed up, so I did
the DOS commands as you instructed. I then found one file excel.xlb in C:,
and did nothing, just left it there. For the heck of it, I then re-ran the
normal XP pro Search, this time (based on what you'd said here) checking off
a box that said hidden files would be searched. Now I found the excel.xlb in
C:, and a SECOND excel.xlb in D:, a drive I use to keep some old stuff. The
file in C: had a current date, the one in D: had a 2005 date. Again, for the
heck of it, I double-clicked the old file, and a blank excel ss came up, and
with all my modifications in full glory, special icon buttons and all!!
Hadn't seen that in some time! I then closed excel and opened it the regular
way, and all my good old mod's were still there!
First thing is, I'm going to save a copy of the 2005 file under a different
name and in a special folder somewhere (in a couple of places!) so I'll
always have it. Next, I guess I'll delete the current file on C: and replace
it with a copy of the good old one from D:
That should keep me good for awhile. But then, do you have any suggestions
for preventing recurrence of this problem in future? I assume you will
recommend deleting all the open office xlb's, and that will not be a
problem. But, anything else that could be causing this? Again, THANKS for
bringing my excel back to full functionality by your fine advice!!

 

[Dave Peterson]

If you've removed the openoffice suite, then I'd say clean up all the stuff
you're not using (as a general rule). But I bet OO and excel don't share these
toolbar files.

As for the excel toolbars, I'd delete all but the real one--in fact, I'd delete
them all and recreate the one I want today (it could be different).

Then after you're done, close excel and find that file. Copy it to a nice safe
location. If you screw something up (either on purpose or by accident), just
copy the backup into the real location.

If you make changes you want to keep later, make sure you dump the original
backup and create a new one!

 

[cmxl]

Thanks again, Dave! I think I will try to keep the old file, rather do a new
one, because there was a lot of work creating it over time that I wouldn't
want to repeat. I will stop right here and see how long the toolbar stays as
it is; if it goes several months, and then all I have to do to bring it back
is go to my old file and doubleclick it--then that will be a good enough
fix. If it has to be done each day--then I have further to go!