Excel shared spreadsheet crashes on one user pc

Question

Hi Experts,
I have a strange problem. I do feel the need to give you all a background of what is wrong and what i have attempted to do.
Firstly a user has reported that when she opens a shared spreadsheet on a network drive it crashes and displays this error "A problem caused the program to stop working correctly" and then it closes or you have to force it close. The whole office runs windows 7 and office 2013. All other users access the file fine. She used to be able to access the file.
My first troubleshooting steps:
1) Installed updates for PC and also office 2013
2)started the file via excel.exe /safe but the same error returned.
3) No add ins seem to be causing the issue
4) Turned of AV and tried opening the file but still no luck
5) started pc via a selective startup
6) repaired office
7) re installed office still no luck.
Then i thought it may be profile related. I logged in as my self and started the file and it worked! I then logged on as the user on my PC and it did not. So i thought i nailed it and created a brand new profile and transferred everything across. Then i tried again and the problem remained.
I then thought about and i copied the file and removed the shared access under the review tab at the top of the excel file and unticked allow sharing and saved. The user can now open the file. I put the sharing back on and the error appears.
I was thinking of just copying the spreadsheet to a new one and applying sharing but the spreadsheet is huge with lots of formatting and formulas and it would not look identical if i tried. I always hated this file.
Please help me work out why the user can not open the spreadsheet while it is shared and how can i repair that.
Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

You can only edit your posts for a certain length of time. Editing is more for correcting a mistake (like .xml instead of .xls). If you have new data to add, you're better off adding another post to the thread, since some people (like me) won't go back and read the older post if they've already read it.

This is not the answer you're looking for, but I've found that sharing workbooks in Excel, particularly across pre- and post-2007 versions is an exercise in frustration. Many features don't work in shared workbooks, and many actions (like inserting rows as opposed to just updating cells) can wreak havoc on the workbook. Crashing workbooks are actually the least of the problems. In my experience, corruption and data loss can also happen, so make sure you're backing up the workbooks from the network.

You'll hopefully find success by upgrading everyone to 2007 and it may work fine for you. However, if it were me, I'd consider a database solution. Excel is not a true mutli-user platform and although Microsoft has created some ability for that, I wouldn't rely on it. If it needs to stay in Excel for some reason, it might be worth asking whether they REALLY all need to edit at the same time, rather than choosing to be notified when the workbook is available and making edits one at a time.

Also try use Excel Repair Kit - is the ultimate XLSX file repair and data recovery tool created to help users cope with the consequences of data corruption accidents on their own. The program absorbed the best qualities of competing solutions, yet introduced a number of unique characteristics that make it the leading Microsoft Excel repair tool on the market. http://www.excel.repair/excel

Answer 2

Hi,
In my case, I opened the Excel file from another user's profile then from "Review" menu clicked on "Share Workbook" and from "Editing" tab removed all users and unchecked "Allow changes ..." then OKed out of the window. This process unshared the Workbook.
Then I opened the workbook from the problematic user's profile without any issue and shared the workbook again by clicking "Allow changes ..." check box which resolved the issue.

Ramin