Can't open sheet in safe mode...

[JohnEllis]

Hi,

I have a series of sheets (around 150) which I use to hold data on products. These sheets are macro enabled, and have protected cells which hold product specifications.

I need to open the sheets in safe mode to disable the macros, so I can edit the sheet. I used to be able to do this really easily, but tonight I can't for the life of me get the sheet to open in safe mode!
If I press ctrl when opening the sheet I get Excel opening in safe mode, but the sheet doesn't load. If I navigate to the sheet from within excel I open the sheet with ctrl pressed, it opens as normal & macros run.
If I make a copy of the sheet or rename it, just the same - can't access safe mode!

Running windows 7 with Excel 2013

Help!

John

 

[Teeroy]

A number of things can cause this issue.
See if you can open the Application in Safe Mode first then open the workbook.

In the Run command box Type:

excel.exe /s

When the application is open, open the workbook and see what result you get.

 

[JohnEllis]

Thanks for that advice

I have just tried this, the application says it is 'Book1 - Microsoft Excel (Safe Mode)', but when I try to open the workbook from the application (even with ctrl pressed) the workbook itself is not in safe mode, and all the macros and buttons are live!

I'm starting to think that I'm manually going to have to edit all 150 sheets worth of VBA

John

 

[Teeroy]

That's strange. Safe Mode should apply to the Application, not the workbook unless you happened to open the second workbook in a new instance of the application. Try dragging and dropping the file onto the Application that shows that it is open in Safe Mode and see what happens.

If your problem with editing the file is that the Macros are event driven then you can set Application.EnableEvents to False before opening the workbook then return it to True when you have edited the Workbook. This will prevent Events from triggering any macros while you are editing the Workbook.

 

[JohnEllis]

I can get around the concern on individual workbooks by temporarily cobbling the VBA, but it is more of a hassle than I would like... the VBA is password protected, so it is just down to me to do any sheet adjustments, rather than leave my 'trusted' colleagues to do

Just to let you know, I also tried clearing my trusted document list - still no change !

I have logged a bug report to the IT team, I hope this is just a local install problem (I think I am clutching at straws here!)

John

 

[Teeroy]

As the X Files told us "Trust No One"
A corrupt installation could cause this problem but it's unlikely to only affect one particular document.
I hope a reinstallation can sort out your problem.

 

[JohnEllis]

That's a good point, I've checked other sheets, and they have the problem too!
Maybe I'm not grasping at straws afterall!