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Common issues in Excel

You may encounter the following issues when using Connector in Excel:

Connector add-in is disabled

After an Excel crash, the Connector add-in can become disabled.

Solution:

  1. On the ribbon, click File | Options.
  2. In the Excel Options dialog, click Add-ins.
  3. In the Add-ins pane, click the Manage drop-down menu, select Disabled Items, then click Go....
  4. In the Disabled Items dialog, select Caseware Connector and click Enable. Close the Disabled Items dialog.
  5. In the Manage drop-down menu, select COM Add-Ins, then click Go....
  6. Select Caseware Connector and click OK.

Recalculate is not working

Recalculate does not function when the Excel calculation mode is set to manual. In certain cases, Connector can switch the calculation mode to manual to perform other operations. If Excel crashes or becomes unresponsive during these operations, the calculation mode can remain set to manual.

Solution:

  1. From the Formulas menu, click Calculation Options.
  2. In the drop-down menu, set the calculation mode to Automatic.

Unlink is not working

If the worksheet is protected, all cells will be locked unless unlocked by the user. The unlink function cannot modify locked cells and will skip these cells during the unlink.

Solution:

  • Unlock cells to enable Connector to perform an unlink. To unlock cells, you must first disable protection for the worksheet. Refer to the Excel help for more information.

Relink is not working

When unlinking, Connector creates a hidden worksheet to store unlinked information. This hidden sheet enables you to relink the document after unlinking.

Solution:

  • If the workbook structure was protected at the time of unlinking, then the unlink is permanent. In protected workbooks, you cannot add new worksheets and thus Connector cannot store the necessary information to perform a relink. If you saved a backup copy prior to unlinking, a relink is not necessary; simply revert to the backup copy.

Paste is not working

When copying content from one Excel document to another in the same client file, the paste function can become unresponsive. This issue can occur when you perform steps in this order:

  1. Open the source document from the Document Manager.
  2. Copy some content onto the clipboard (Ctrl+C).
  3. Open the target document from the Document Manager.
  4. Attempt to paste the content into the target document.

In this scenario, the contents of the clipboard are erased when opening the target document and may continue to be unavailable.

Solution:

  1. In Working Papers, open both the source and target documents from the Document Manager.
  2. Copy the contents from the source document (Ctrl+C).
  3. In the target document, use the right-click menu and the Formulas (Fx) option to paste.

Excel does not open from the Document Manager

Attempting to open an Excel document from the Document Manager of Working Papers fails.

Solution:

  1. Open Excel from the Start menu.
  2. From the File menu, click Options.
  3. In the Excel Options dialog, click the Advanced tab.
  4. In the Advanced pane, scroll down to the General group and deselect Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). Click OK.

Context (right-click) menu does not display

The Connector context menu only functions when your mouse focus is placed on a cell. When the focus is placed on other Excel entities, like a page, the right-click menu for Connector does not appear.

Solution:

  • Ensure that you are not viewing the document in a mode such as Page Preview mode. In this mode you can only focus on the page and not cells. Change the viewing mode to Normal under the menu View | Workbook Views.

Tickmark image option is disabled

When you include a tickmark in the worksheet, Connector adds the tickmark image to the worksheet and stores it in the worksheet picture collection.

If the workbook and/or worksheet is protected, then Connector cannot store the image in the picture collection. Saving an image to the picture collection modifies the worksheet structure which is prohibited when protection is enabled.

Document reference link is not working

Typically, a document reference link attempts to open the document in the active client file (open in Working Papers). If there is no active client file, then Connector attempts to open the last accessed client file for the current machine. Connector then attempts to locate the document on the Document Manager based on the document number. The document reference can operate incorrectly if:

  • The last accessed client file is not the appropriate client file and the specified document number references some other type of item on the Document Manager.
  • The document number does not exist for this client file.

Solution: Open the appropriate client file in Working Papers prior to clicking a document reference.

Excel freezes when a document contains DDE links and Logitech software is installed

When using Connector in an Excel document that contains DDE links, Logitech software can interfere with DDE messages sent from Excel. Logitech software has the potential to cause Excel to freeze. This issue will not occur in Excel documents that use UDF links.

Solution:

  • Convert all DDE links to UDF links in the Excel document, or
  • Uninstall the Logitech SetPoint software from Start | Control Panel | Programs and Features.

Note: We recommend converting DDE links to UDF links. For more information, see Convert DDE to UDF.

Excel ribbon no longer responds after batch DDE conversion

When performing a batch DDE conversion with another Excel document open at the same time, the Excel ribbon becomes unresponsive. This occurs across all open instances of Excel and any Excel document opened after the conversion process. You will not be able to interact with the Excel ribbon, but you will be able to close the documents.

Solution:

  1. Prior to the conversion, close all Excel documents except the Excel document in which you are converting links.
  2. Proceed to convert links using the batch procedure. For more information, see Convert DDE to UDF.

Error: "Document needs to be recalculated"

Caused by Excel's calculation policy. Although the option in Connector Do not recalculate immediately is enabled, this error message can still prompt you to recalculate.

Normally, when workbooks that contain non-Connector UDFs are opened, a recalculate is not performed unless the UDFs are volatile. Ensure to open and save workbooks inside of the engagement before moving or sending the workbook to help preserve values.

Cannot convert a file if another file with the same name is open

Attempting to convert a file, individually or as part of a batch, with the same name as an open Excel file will not succeed.

Excel does not allow multiple files with the same name to be opened at the same time. Either rename one of your files, or close the file you do not want to convert.

Error loading Connector UDFs when "#NAME" is displayed in cells

Occurs when Excel cannot find the Connector UDFs.

Solution:

  1. On the ribbon, click File | Options.
  2. In the Excel Options dialog, click Add-ins.
  3. In the Add-ins pane, click the Manage drop-down menu, select Disabled Items, then click Go....
  4. In the Disabled Items dialog, select Caseware Connector and click Enable. Close the Disabled Items dialog.
  5. In the Manage drop-down menu, select COM Add-Ins, then click Go....
  6. Select Caseware Connector and click OK.
  7. On the ribbon, click Add-ins.
  8. In the Connector menu, click Tools | Recalculate.

Error loading Connector UDFs when "#N/A" is displayed in cells

Occurs when Excel cannot connect to the Working Papers file. Excel may not be able to locate the Working Papers file if the engagement file is not open, or if the Excel file is located outside of the Working Papers file structure.

Solution:

  1. On the ribbon, click Add-ins.
  2. In the Connector menu, click Tools | Options.
  3. In the Options dialog, select Use Client File opened in Working Papers for UDFs. Click OK.
  4. In the Connector menu, click Tools | Recalculate.

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