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When opening Excel it looks for an add-in that I have removed from the file folder. It gives me the message that it can't find it, of course, as stated in the title. When I go into Options -> Add-ins -> Go -> Uncheck and click "OK" it is removed from the add-in list and it asks me if I want to delete it, since it cannot find the add-in in the file path. However, if I close Excel and open it I get the same error and the add-in will show up in the list, and the cycle continues. When I say "okay" to delete the add-in it is still asking the same question whenever I open Excel again.

How do I fix this?

BlackBear
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  • Just say Yes when asked if you want to delete – Charles Williams Apr 26 '19 at 10:16
  • I updated my post to reflect that I already tried that – BlackBear Apr 26 '19 at 11:32
  • Works OK for me: Try searching the file system for the name of the addin to see if it has not been copied somewhere (Excel tends to copy addins to strange places). If all else fails, close Excel, then use RegEdit to delete the addin entries in Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Excel\Options OPEN and Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Excel\Add-in Manager (the 15.0 is Excel 2013, look for 16.0 if Excel 2016) – Charles Williams Apr 26 '19 at 13:12
  • @CharlesWilliams I checked and it was not in any version of Excel. I checked the local machine version, too. – BlackBear May 14 '19 at 11:10
  • @BlackBear Could you try to find the add-in at this(Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\AddIns\.VisibleAlpha.ExcelAddin), and see if that has been registered there. – Sourabh Mishra May 20 '19 at 07:14
  • @SourabhMishra I do not have a .VisibleAlpha.ExcelAddin folder or extension in that path. – BlackBear May 20 '19 at 09:01
  • @BlackBear You need to search it in the registry. Also at this path Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\AddIns\YOURADDIN, You have to search for your add-in name. If this also doesn't work you can try removing the COM from Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{7EA3E06A-8832-4BF4-B5B3-3967F2D1A3DE}, Here the {7EA3E06A-8832-4BF4-B5B3-3967F2D1A3DE} is the GUID of your add-in. If you remove that, Excel will not recognize it and will not load that add-in. – Sourabh Mishra May 22 '19 at 06:02
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    This question is not "about general computing hardware and software". It is about a very specific type of programming functionality in a very specific programming environment, Excel VBA. I dont think it should have been closed. – WizzleWuzzle Jul 22 '22 at 19:26

6 Answers6

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After you are sure that you delete the add-in from its' source, just disable all excel add-ins. Close Excel and open it back. You will not see the warning again.

Dharman
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user14726243
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After you start Excel go to File -> Options -> Add-Ins -> Manage: Excel Add-Ins "Go...". Now you click on the Add-Ins that's causing the error and when Excel asks you to remove the missing / not found Add-In you click on keep it! Thus it gets saved and you can close Excel.

Next time you open Excel there is no error because the Add-in is not active. Now you can do the same thing and go to the Excel Add-ins. When you now try to activate it, you can click on the message which says "remove Add-in" and the Add-in gone.

enter image description here

Kiril
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It is not an error, windows can handle or search the files directory upto 260 characters long or more than that as Maybe in your case. Try it put it in some lower hierarchy, not very deep inside some folders, i.e like desktop or in Documents from there you can read and find your file.

MD Rijwan
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  • Microsoft is at the state of the art to maintain backward compatibility to old bugs and misdesign – lalebarde Jul 08 '21 at 10:05
  • This is not correct. I still got the same error after moving file to simple c:\test path. – zar Mar 20 '23 at 20:57
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Make sure you have the developer tab on your ribbon. Once on the developer tab click "Excel Add-ins" next to the gear icon and click the add-in that is causing the error and it should prompt you to delete it.

user14746345
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Close Excel. Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Windows search bar, and run as administrator. Next, go to Edit --> Find… and search the name of the missing add-in. Once it finds the registry files, delete anything that references it. Open Excel again, and it should be gone.

user18887770
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Had the same problem, here you can find the solution: https://www.thespreadsheetguru.com/blog/prevent-excel-error-message-for-missing-add-in

First you will want to note the file path that Excel thinks the add-in should be located in and the name of the add-in file. Once you know where that folder is located and the name of the add-in, proceed to do the following:

  • Create a new Excel file
  • Save the file with the following conditions:
  • Use the Add-in name
  • Use the Excel file extension “.xlam” (if it is an older add-in it might need to be “.xla”)
  • Save to the same folder path
  • Once you have saved this new faux add-in file, close down Excel
  • Reopen Excel and hopefully you won’t receive the error message
  • Go into your Excel Add-ins dialog box and check the add-in and hit Ok
  • Go back into you Excel Add-ins dialog box and uncheck the add-in and hit OK
  • Close out of Excel

You should now be able to go and delete the faux Excel add-in file and not see the error message going forward. Yay!!

user14989636
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