Our XL2CAD product connects to Microsoft Excel and pulls information using the ActiveX channel. There are factors that can negatively affect that connection, which are detailed below.
You may see an error message “Microsoft Excel does not appear to be running”. If you are placing a new instance and have not opened the spreadsheet you wish to place, please do so. Sometimes it’s not so easy and XL2CAD may report this while you are looking at the open spreadsheet. There are numerous factors including anti-virus applications and Excel Security that can cause the connection to fail.
First, believe it or not, it’s a good idea to reboot your machine. Then immediately upon rebooting try connecting again.
Opening spreadsheets with macros: If you open a spreadsheet that contains a macro that is not in a trusted location, this banner may appear on top of the Excel window.
If this panel is visible, Excel has locked all macros, not just those contained in your spreadsheet. This will prevent XL2CAD from being able to complete it’s tasks. When you see this use the [Options] button to tell Excel to Enable this content (you trust the spreadsheet), or put the actual file in a trusted location.
Other Excel Security settings: When XL2CAD runs it attempts to set a security setting so it can execute Excel macros. This usually works but if you see an error containing the text “Programmatic access to Visual Basic Project is not trusted” you will need to see the Users Guide under “Excel Security”. The users guide is installed with the software and you should see it under Start > Programs > DotSoft > XL2CAD. The actual file is in the \XL2CAD folder as “xl2cad.chm”. In the event you open the help file and it is blank, Windows is blocking it’s content. In this case, right click on the xl2cad.chm file and choose Properties, and Unblock Content.
These items listed solve many of the connectivity problems. However in some cases the MS Office installation is incomplete or has became corrupt. In this case you will need to reinstall Microsoft Excel/Office to repair the connectivity. See your IT department if you are not comfortable with this.