Forum Discussion
no links/VBA/addons, but : Microsoft excel waiting for another application to complete an ole action
The only way I can use Excel again is to shut down all my apps and re-boot. That this error happens is bad enough. That there is not timeout or ignore option is simply unacceptable. It's essentially like having a Microsoft virus that is losing my work, corrupting my Excel files, and costing my far too much time. MS needs to fix this!
I agree David, it should not be happening. However, if it's any help, I believe I know why it's happened this time around. By the way, charts are notorious for this.
If you create a chart in excel, presumably it will be based on data (a table of some sort). If you cut or copy the chart to another tab, it will still show the correct values (as it's linked to the original data). If you cut or copy it to an email, powerPoint or anywhere alse, it wil remain linked to the original data. You've deleted the original (temporary) spreadsheet and Excel is an unhappy bunny!
Unfortunately, I don't have a fix for this and I suspect Microsoft don't either, as it would require them adding a timeout code or a way to break unmatched links.
However, for future cases, I'd suggest pasting the chart as a picture i.e. rather than using a normal paste use paste special.
I know it doesn't help in this case but in the past when I've faced the problem, I've looked for VBA code or used Excel tools like Inquire, to see if I can fix the problem. Other than that, I've had to dissable my addins (in some cases removing them) and reinstalling.
All I can say is it's bloody annoying!
Thanks for the response and that was a great thought. However, I didn't delete the spreadsheet from which the chart came. I copied the chart and pasted it into Outlook. I did not modify it in Outlook. I was working in the same spreadsheet the chart came from when Excel froze up - I knew this error was coming. About a minute or two later I got the dreaded dialog box.
Pasting as a picture does solve the problem, but this has display issues and my co-workers hate it. It's a terrible compromise and generally not considered acceptable where I work. If I can't reliably copy and past charts from Excel without having to paste them as pictures, why am I using Excel for charts? I spend most of my day in Excel and communicate primarily through charts.
I will try PowerBI to see if that helps any. If that doesn't work I may need to find another charting tool. It's too hard to work this way.
