Tag Archives: officewriter designer

ExcelWriter, Knowledge Base, OfficeWriter, Reporting Services, WordWriter

Designer Install Error: This software requires Excel 97 and/or Word 97 (or higher)

Problem

The installer for the OfficeWriter Designer v8.0 and below throws the following error:

This software requires Excel 97 and/or Word 97 (or higher), with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and MSQuery installed. This system does not appear to have Excel or Word installed. Please install Office before continuing.

Solution

Office 2010 is installed

The OfficeWriter Designer v8.0 and below is not supported in Office 2010. Please install v8.1.1 or higher for Office 2010.

No Office is installed

The OfficeWriter Designer is an Office Add-In and requires a version of Office to be installed to use.

ExcelWriter, Knowledge Base, OfficeWriter, Reporting Services, WordWriter

OfficeWriter Designer Warning: Feature is only available in Enterprise Edition

Problem

OfficeWriter Enterprise Edition is installed on the server, but the warning message: WARNING! This feature is only available in Enterprise Edition of OfficeWriter pops up when using certain features of the Designer.

Solution

This warning message displays when using any features that are only supported with Enterprise Edition of OfficeWriter, such as Reporting Services formulas. This is because the OfficeWriter Designer does not have the capability to detect what version of OfficeWriter is installed in Reporting Services.

The common scenario is for OfficeWriter for Reporting Services to be installed on a server, with the OfficeWriter Designer distributed to end-users, who design reports and upload them to the server. The Designer has no means of determining if the OfficeWriter on the server is Enterprise or Standard Edition, but end-users should be aware that if the OfficeWriter on the server is not Enterprise Edition and they use Enterprise-only features, their report may not render properly.

The OfficeWriter Designer can be used on the same machine that has OfficeWriter for Reporting Services installed, such as on a development machine, but the Designer does not require OfficeWriter to be installed. This is why that alert displays regardless of what version of OfficeWriter is installed.

To avoid seeing the warning message when using features that are only available in OfficeWriter Enterprise Edition, un-check ‘Show this warning when Enterprise Edition feature is used.’

If only Standard Edition is installed on the server, to avoid the warning message and hide Enterprise Edition-only features, click ‘Hide EE Features’ button at the bottom of the pop-up window.

ExcelWriter, Knowledge Base, OfficeWriter, Reporting Services

OfficeWriter Designer prompts to publish during preview

Problem

The OfficeWriter Designer keeps prompting to publish the report when attempting to view the report from Excel. This happens even when the report is retrieved from the server and no changes are made to the report before trying to preview.

Solution

How View in the OfficeWriter Designer works

When the View button is clicked, the OfficeWriter Designer does several things:

  1. If the report has not been published, prompt the user to save and publish the report.
  2. If a previously published report has been changed in Excel, prompt the user to save and re-publish
  3. Make a request to Reporting Services to export/render the published report using the OfficeWriter renderer (OfficeWriter for Excel)
  4. Download a copy of the rendered report and open in Excel

In order for the OfficeWriter Designer to view a report, the most updated version of the report must be published to the server.

Designer still prompts when no changes have been made to the report

Certain Excel features, such as macros and pivottables, can be set to automatically execute or update when the workbook is opened. This is considered to be a change to the file, even though there are no visible changes to the report.

The OfficeWriter Designer uses the same logic as Excel when determining if a change has been made to the file. This means that any time Excel would prompt a user to save changes made to a file, the OfficeWriter Designer will prompt to publish the changes to the server.

For example, if a report contains a pivottable that is set to update the data when the workbook opens, Excel will interpret this a change to the file, even though it appears as though nothing has changed. In this case, the Designer will ask the user to publish the report before the View function can be run.

ExcelWriter, Knowledge Base, OfficeWriter, Reporting Services, WordWriter

Designer Install Error: No Office 2007 or 2010 found

Problem

Installing the OfficeWriter Designer 8.1.0 and higher throws the error:

No Office 2007 or 2010 found. Office 2007 or later must be installed to use this product. If you are using an earlier version of Office please download the installer version 8.0 or earlier.

Solution

Office 2010 is installed

This error may occur if you have the 64-bit version of Office 2010 installed.

The OfficeWriter Designer does not currently support the 64-bit version of Office 2010. There are no immediate plans to support the 64-bit version of Office 2010 because we have not seen much demand from customers and Microsoft recommends using the 32-bit version in most cases:

IMPORTANT The 32-bit version of Office 2010 is the recommended option for most people because it prevents potential compatibility issues with other 32-bit applications, specifically third-party add-ins that are available only for 32-bit operating systems. — Choose the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Microsoft Office.

The OfficeWriter Designer is supported on 64-bit operating systems, but requires a 32-bit version of Office. If no 32-bit version of Office 2007 or 2010 is detected on the machine, the installer will throw the error above.

Office 2003 is installed

Starting in OfficeWriter 8.1, the OfficeWriter Designer is only supported in Office 2007 and 2010. If you need to use the Designer in an earlier version of Office, please download OfficeWriter Designer 8.0 or earlier.

No Office is installed

The OfficeWriter Designer is an Office add-in and requires a 32-bit version of Office to be installed.

ExcelWriter, Knowledge Base, OfficeWriter, Reporting Services, WordWriter

Designer Error: Could not load an object because it is not available on this machine

Problem

After installing the OfficeWriter Designer for Office 2007 or 2010, Excel or Word throws the following error three times when opened:

Could not load an object because it is not available on this machine.

Following the instructions in Designer throws compile error after installing Microsoft August 2012 updates to re-register MSCOMCTL.OCX do not resolve the issue.

Solution

In August 2012, Microsoft released Security Bulletin MS12-060 which targeted a security vulnerability in the Microsoft Common Controls SP6 (MSCOMCTL.OCX). As part of the security update, a new version of the library was distributed to all Office 2010 SP1, Office 2007 SP2 and Office 2007 SP3 installations.

The OfficeWriter Designer requires the new version of MSCOMCTL.OCX. If the older version is present, the above error will occur.

To resolve this issue:

This will require admin privileges and we recommend that you consult your IT staff before applying these updates.

1. Install the appropriate service pack to Office 2007 or 2010:

If the latest service pack is not applied, the new version of MSCOMCTL.OCX will not be installed on the machine, even if the security update is run.

To verify that the installation completed successfully, follow the instructions in this How to tell which Office service pack is installed blog post.

2. Download and install the version of the update for your version of Office:

3. If you experience a compilation error when you open Office, try following the instructions in Designer throws compile error after installing Microsoft August 2012 updates to re-register MSCOMCTL.OCX.

Additional Help – Installing Service Packs

Before you can install the service pack, you may need to clear some disk space. Microsoft has an article on Strategies for freeing disk space, which suggests that you Delete files using the Disk Cleanup tool. If you are working on a server OS, such as Windows Server 2008, the Disk Cleanup tool may not be installed. Instructions for how to install the Disk Cleanup tool are outlined in this MSDN forum post.

Knowledge Base, OfficeWriter, Reporting Services

OfficeWriter Designer toolbar is not visible in Excel or Word

Problem

After installing the OfficeWriter Designer, the Designer Add-In is not available in Excel/Word. This may occur if:

  • The OfficeWriter Designer installer was not run
  • The Designer was not installed properly
  • The Designer is currently disabled.

Solution

To run the OfficeWriter Designer installer

The OfficeWriter Designer is a component that is redistributible and does not require a license key. There is a separate installer for the OfficeWriter Designer.

The Designer installer is available for separate download from http://www.officewriter.com/product-updates or upon request.

To check if the OfficeWriter Designer was installed correctly:

Make sure that hidden folders are visible:

  • Open a folder and go to Folder options
  • Under ‘Files and Folders’ locate ‘Hidden Files and Folders’
  • Select ‘Show hidden files and holders’

Check the ApplicationData\Microsoft start directories for the Add-In files:

  • For Excel: look for SAExcelTemplateAddIn.xlam in Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART
  • For Word: look for SAWordTemplateAddIn.dotm in Application Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP

If the files are there, the OfficeWriter Designer was installed correctly, but might be disabled. See below for how to re-enable the Designer if it’s been disabled.

If the files are not there, then the OfficeWriter Designer was not installed properly. Try uninstalling the OfficeWriter Designer through Add/Remove programs and try to re-install.

How to re-enable the Designer if it has been disabled:

Office 2007/2010:

  • Go to the Office menu button (2007) or File tab (2010) in the upper left hand corner.
  • Click Excel/Word Options
  • Select Add-Ins from the left menu
  • At the bottom, select ‘Disabled Items’ from the ‘Manage’ drop-down menu.
  • Click Go
  • If the OfficeWriter Designer is there, select and click Enable.

Office 2003:

  • Go to the Help menu and select About Microsoft Office Excel/Word
  • Click Disabled items*
  • If the OfficeWriter Designer is listed, select and click Enable.

OfficeWriter, Reporting Services, WordWriter

Designer Compile Error: Object library invalid or contains references that cannot be found

Problem

When the OfficeWriter Designer is installed, Excel or Word throws a VBA compilation error:

Object library invalid or contains references that cannot be found.

This error can occur if you installed a version of Office on a system in which the Office Designer had already been installed for a different version of Office. For example, you were using OfficeWriter Designer with Office 2007, then later installed any component of Office 2010, including SharePoint Designer 2010 (which is a part of the Office Suite). The error does not go away even if you uninstall one Office version.

This problem will not occur if you install OfficeWriter Designer for the first time on a system which is already running two versions of Office side-by-side.

The error is thrown at startup when Excel or Word attempts to load the add-in template which contains the VBA code for the OfficeWriter Designer. Excel or Word is attempting to use a cached, incompatible version of certain Microsoft control type libraries.

Solution

Resolve the error by removing all cached control type libraries as follows:

  1. Close all running instances of Excel or Word
  2. Navigate to \users\USERNAME\appdata\roaming\microsoft\forms
  3. Remove all *.exd files
  4. Start Excel or Word. Upon starting, the compatible version of the required .exd files will be automatically restored.

Update 4/10/2012: This issue might also occur if you installed the Microsoft April 2012 security update on a machine that had the OfficeWriter Designer installed. For more details about the April 2012 security update specifically, please refer to Microsoft’s kb article.

Update 8/12/2012: Similar issues may be the result of the August 2012 security update. If following the steps listed above do not resolve the issue, please try following the steps listed in this OfficeWriter kb article.