Forum Discussion

1925's avatar
1925
Copper Contributor
Aug 03, 2026

Error message to say can't install add-ins (where ones I have stop appearing on toolbar)

Hi,

I have an accountancy add-in for Excel which normally appears on my toolbar when I load Excel up. For some reason it wasn't there all of a sudden so tried to load it again as an add-in but just get an error message at the bottom of the screen to say that it can't be loaded and to try again later. Tried chatting with Microsoft Support who were no help at all and tried to blame it on the third party software not Excel until I tried loading other add-ins (including Microsoft ones) and get exactly the same message.

Tried logging in and out of my account and shutting down and re-starting but to no avail.

Any ideas/solutions would be most welcome!

Thanks,

David

excel

2 Replies

  • SarahWilson1's avatar
    SarahWilson1
    Tin Contributor
    Aug 04, 2026

    Since Microsoft add-ins fail as well, this is unlikely to be caused only by the accountancy add-in. Start by opening File > Options > Add-ins in Excel. At the bottom, select Disabled Items and click Go. Excel can place a COM add-in there automatically after it fails to load or causes a crash, even when the user did not disable it. If the accountancy add-in is listed, enable it, then also check COM Add-ins and make sure it is ticked.

    Next, try adding a Microsoft add-in in Excel for the web. If it works there, the account and Microsoft’s service are working, and the issue is limited to the desktop app. Close all Office apps, rename %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef to Wef.old, then reopen Excel and try again. This only resets the local web add-in cache; Office will recreate it.

    If add-ins also fail in Excel for the web, or this is a work account, ask the Microsoft 365 administrator to check whether Office Store access or connected experiences have been disabled by policy. That could both remove existing web add-ins from the ribbon and prevent new ones from being installed.