Excel Macros Spreadsheets Not Loading
I've spent some time with Microsoft Support (almost 3 hours, including uninstalling my MS 365 and reinstalling it), but I'm having an issue with my Excel Macro spreadsheets not loading at all. This is what I get each time. Also having an issue with non-Macro spreadsheets that I'm unable to use the Bold, Italic, and Underline functions (get the spinning wheel and then Excel Not Responding), as well as not able to use the Format function (get the same spinning wheel and then Excel Not Responding). I've been using these same Excel Macro Spreadsheets for over 15 years. Please help!
Excel repair strips all formulas from large .xlsm after March 2026 security update (KB5002849)
Hi everyone, I'm a master's student at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. My thesis is a health economic cost-effectiveness model built entirely in Excel — a gender-neutral static Markov cohort model with 34 worksheets. The file has become completely unusable after what I believe is the March 2026 security update, and I'm running out of options. The file: - .xlsm, ~46.5 MB compressed, ~370 MB uncompressed XML - 34 worksheets, four of which are 73–92 MB each (Markov trace sheets) - ~65,000 formulas, ~33,500 shared formulas - Heavy use of LET, LAMBDA, XLOOKUP, XMATCH, CHOOSECOLS, TAKE, MAP, SWITCH - 771 defined names including ~147 hidden _xlpm.* LET/LAMBDA variable placeholders - Stored on OneDrive via KI SharePoint, 34,000+ AutoSave revisions - Contains VBA (vbaProject.bin) The problem: Every time I open the file — on Excel for Mac or Excel Online — the repair engine triggers and strips ALL formulas from every sheet, replacing them with cached values. The file shrinks from ~46.5 MB to ~26 MB. Clicking "No" on the repair dialog just closes the file. There is no way to bypass the repair. What I've verified: - Extracted the .xlsm as a ZIP and confirmed all formulas (<f> tags) are fully intact in the raw XML - Libr€Office Calc can read the formulas but cannot execute them (Err:508 — no LET/LAMBDA support) - Removed 158 broken named ranges (#REF! and #NAME? entries) from workbook.xml and rebuilt the archive — repair engine still strips all formulas - The issue reproduces on every OneDrive version history copy (up until I largely used LET formulas in my sheets - but there is still 1,5months of changes lost) - The issue reproduces on both Excel for Mac and Excel Online Suspected cause: The March 10, 2026 security update (KB5002849) patched CVE-2026-26108, a heap overflow in Excel's file parsing during loading. The same patch was applied to Office Online Server (KB5002846). I believe the tightened parsing now rejects or flags my file's large XML structures as potentially malicious, triggering the repair engine to strip all formulas. This is consistent with: - The known _xlfn. namespace bug on Excel for Mac (reported by multiple users on Microsoft Q&A since late 2024) - The timing - the file was working before this update flawlessly up until March 16th - The fact that Excel Online is also affected (same server-side patch) My questions to the community: 1. Has anyone else experienced formula stripping on large workbooks after the March 2026 update? 2. Is there a way to bypass the repair engine on Mac, or roll back the specific security patch without downgrading all of Office? 3. Would opening this file on Windows Excel (pre-patch or current) preserve the formulas? If anyone with a Windows PC would be willing to try opening and re-saving this file, I would be incredibly grateful. 4. Is there now effectively a size/complexity ceiling for Excel workbooks that makes models like this unviable? If so - should I be migrating this to another environment (R, Python, etc.) going forward? This file represents six months of thesis work. The formulas are all there in the XML. I just need Excel to stop destroying them on open. Any help, pointers, or similar experiences would be hugely appreciated. Thank you, Florian Boschek
A 40,000+ VBA line Block and Stack workplace planning tool made in Excel
Hi all, I’ve been an Excel user for a long time, but until the last 8 months I had never really explored the full power of Excel/VBA. With AI’s help, I’ve been building a workplace Block and Stack planning tool called Work Stack. It’s a niche use case, but a very real one in my industry, supporting corporate office planners, workplace teams, and anyone trying to move and reorganise teams within an office. When I first started, I thought an AI agent would simply be able to generate the answer for me. I quickly realised that wasn’t enough, especially when it came to reliably recreating the block and stack image and handling the planning logic behind it. That was when I decided to build it properly. I have zero coding background, but 15+ years of workplace experience, so the setup became: AI as the code developer, and me as the product owner, logic lead, tester, and relentless breaker of whatever had just been built. I moved very quickly at first and had a “working model” within about 6 weeks. The problem was that it produced all sorts of crazy results and was basically unusable, untestable, and unfixable. That was where I learned some hard lessons about relying too heavily on arrays and not being disciplined enough with separation of concerns. Version 1 was a false start, but a very useful one. I scrapped it and rebuilt the tool properly from scratch. The rebuild took 6+ months rather than 6 weeks, but Work Stack is now at beta stage and is being tested and demoed by industry peers. Attached are 3 images: Image 1 — Current Stack This is a standard desk-sharing workplace stack. It shows teams grouped into functions, some placed in neighbourhood zones, some co-located with other teams (shown with the two-headed arrow), and some “breached” teams shown with a red border where they are sharing desks more aggressively than the building guideline allows (80% in this example). There are also scattered spare desks shown in white blocks at the end of floors. As teams move, the team blocks, floors, and footer totals all recalculate automatically. Image 2 — AutoStack Output This is the result of running the most complex feature in the tool: AutoStack. It assesses the current stack and then restructures it based on the user’s instructions. In this example, I asked it to fix all breached teams, reunite teams with their function groups, dissolve neighbourhood zones and co-locations, and consolidate spare desks where possible. Something that would normally take a space planner weeks of effort can now be done by VBA in Excel in seconds. That part still blows me away. Image 3 — Stack Editor This is the main parent form, called Stack Editor. It acts as the control hub for creating, editing, and customising the stack. At the moment it has 37 features and counting. Under the hood, the rebuilt version is structured far more seriously than the original. It uses an object-oriented VBA model built around core class modules for the plan, floors, and teams, with supporting classes for things like zones, functions, financials, and rendering. In other words, the stack is modelled as real objects rather than just spreadsheet rows. I also rebuilt it with much stricter boundaries between logic, persistence, rendering, and UI. That discipline is what made the second version stable enough to keep growing, and it is a big part of why the codebase has now grown to 40,000+ lines without collapsing under its own weight. I mainly wanted to share this with people who might appreciate this very specific use case in VBA. At some point I may need to port it to Python or something similar, but for now I’m honestly amazed at how far this 30-year-old language can be pushed.
I need help with the baseball file.
I need help with the baseball file. Thes Teams Do Not Do Anything To Blue Jays White Sox Red Sox Column B At Astros I Want @Astros All Other Teams To Mariners At I Want Vs Mariners All Other Teams To Column C Change Time To One Hour Earlier Trim All Cells I Want Vba Code Thank you very muchFilling a column with succeeding lists
Hi, I need a list of files, with numbers starting from 001 for each box. Adding the number for one box is easy but I have thousands of them. A box number is like "0001AA0001". The first number and the letters never change, so I have : 0001AA0001 0001AA0002 0001AA0003 Then I have to add the files numbers, like "0001AA0001/001". I already have a line for each file, but only with the box number in the forst column, repeated several times, each time for every file. What I have What I need 0001AA0001 0001AA0001/001 0001AA0001 0001AA0001/002 0001AA0001 0001AA0001/003 0001AA0002 0001AA0002/001 0001AA0002 0001AA0002/002 0001AA0003 0001AA0003/001 0001AA0004 0001AA0004/001 0001AA0004 0001AA0004/002 0001AA0004 0001AA0004/003 Can you please tell me how can I add automatically the /001 and so on without having to do it for each box ? I can't manage to use a model for CTRL+E and I'm not accustomed to use the functions. Thanks, M.T.
Using excel to prepare a detailed income and tax computation for federal taxes USA.
I am toying with the idea of preparing a comprehensive excel workbook for preparing a computation of income, adjustments, deductions, taxes and credits similar to a software helping to prepare 1040 return. My idea is not exactly to prepare a tax forms for submission but a computation summary of four to five pages which helps the tax payers to appreciate their income and taxes (as against 200+ pages of tax return). Technically it will be a full fledged software but will be also a very good review and visulation tool and mybe a tax planning tool later. Is excel a good place to do that? Will python with excel be able to handle? I am a tax professional but not a tech guy. I am only looking at Federal preparation as of now.
Signed macros are blocked without notification.
Following problem: if the security policy "Disable all except digitally signed macros" is enabled in Excel, signed macros usually work, but sometimes they are simply disabled without any message and cannot be executed, even though the signature is valid. Have already tried the following: re-inserting the signature, recreating and recompiling the macros, saving the file in a different format – all without success. The signature in the macro is valid, but Excel blocks execution without any message. How can this problem be solved? Can i attach an affected file hier?
