Custom UI Tab Not Working

[Dman333]

I have a custom UI setup to add a tab to the ribbon to help with user navigation. I’ve used this in other files for years (“Previous File”) and it works fine. I recently created a new model and pasted the same code in that file using Custom UI Editor for Microsoft Office. It worked well a couple of times. Then, I got the dreaded “Slow workbook – Check Performance” message and the tab won’t open in the file anymore. I have a bunch of formatted cells with no data so the user can use that area and that’s what’s triggering the “Check Performance” message. I deleted all those cells as a test and the message stopped popping up, but the custom tab still won’t display. I’m not sure if these events are connected or not, but that’s when the file stopped showing the custom UI tab.

I’m using Windows 10 and Excel 365. The Previous File was created in Excel 2019 and the problem file was created in Excel 365. I need this to work on all versions of Excel as well as in Windows 11. The custom UI tab still works in the Previous File, so I’m wondering if something changed based on the version of Excel the file was first created in. Also, I have .Net Framework 3.5 (Includes 2.0 and 3.0) and .Net Framework 4.8 Advanced Services installed.

Anyone have any thoughts here or suggestions on how to achieve this goal in the most reliable solid fashion? I’m not and XML expert and probably know just enough to be dangerous. Any help or advise is greatly appreciated.

Below is the XML code currently being used. Also, I did a test deleting all the code except for one line with one button and it still doesn’t display the tab.

Cheers and thanks for your time!
Dman333


<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2009/07/customui">
<ribbon>
<tabs>
<tab id="CoNameTab" label="CoName" insertBeforeMso="TabHome">
<!--group idMso="GroupClipboard" /-->
<group idMso="GroupFont" />
<group idMso="GroupAlignmentExcel" />
<group idMso="GroupNumber" />
<!--group idMso="GroupEditingExcel" /-->
<group idMso="GroupFormulaAuditing" />
<group id="customGroup3" label="Landsea C-Tab Navigation">
<button id="customButton8" label="Plan Lineup" imageMso="OpenStartPage" size="large" onAction="GoTo_Plan_Lineup" />
<button id="customButton6" label="Sales- Starts-Close" imageMso="RecurrenceEdit" size="large" onAction="GoTo_New_Starts" />
<button id="customButton4" label="Development Costs" imageMso="PictureRecolorGallery" size="large" onAction="GoTo_DevCosts" />
<button id="customButton1" label="CashFlow" imageMso="DollarSign" size="large" onAction="GoTo_Cashflow" />
<button id="customButton2" label="Income Statement" imageMso="CalculateSheet" size="large" onAction="GoTo_IncomeStatement" />
<button id="customButton3" label="Balance Sheet" imageMso="AcceptInvitation" size="large" onAction="GoTo_BalanceSheet" />
<button id="customButton5" label="Cap I Calculations" imageMso="PercentSign" size="large" onAction="GoTo_CapIcalc" />
</group>
<group id="customGroup4" label="Landsea Model Navigation">
<button id="customButton11" label="Cashflow Tab" imageMso="DollarSign" size="large" onAction="GoTo_CashflowTab" />
<button id="customButton12" label="Income Statement Tab" imageMso="CalculateSheet" size="large" onAction="GoTo_IncomeStatementTab" />
<button id="customButton16" label="Inventory" imageMso="OpenStartPage" size="large" onAction="GoTo_Inventory" />
<button id="customButton15" label="Reports Dashboard" imageMso="MarketingAssistance2" size="large" onAction="GoTo_ReportsDB" />
</group>
<group id="customGroup5" label="Tab Navigation">
<button id="customButton9" label="Go To Sheet" imageMso="TableIndexes" size="large" onAction="Show_Sheets" />
</group>
</tab>
</tabs>
</ribbon>
</customUI>

 

[Jeffrey Mahoney]

I got that HTM data to work if I use the Custom UI Editor for Microsoft Office. I tried it on a new file.

 

[Dman333]

Thanks for the time and effort Jeff.

I'm able to get it to work on different files as well. I'm wondering if the "Check Performance" message messed something up or if there's something deep in excel that was causing the problem. I went ahead and stripped out all the lines except for one button and it started working again (I did this after deleting a bunch of stuff so the "Check Performance" message stopped popping up). The I added one line (button) at a time and now it seems to be working again. Feels like a strange combination of circumstances occurred that cause excel to freak out. Whatever it was, saving it without any code and then adding the lines back slowly seemed to unjam whatever was going on. BTW - after adding all the lines the code is exactly as uploaded - so go figure.

Thanks again for the time and effort - Much appreciated.
Cheers
Dman333

 

[Dman333]

Thanks for the time and effort Jeff.

I'm able to get it to work on different files as well. I'm wondering if the "Check Performance" message messed something up or if there's something deep in excel that was causing the problem. I went ahead and stripped out all the lines except for one button and it started working again (I did this after deleting a bunch of stuff so the "Check Performance" message stopped popping up). The I added one line (button) at a time and now it seems to be working again. Feels like a strange combination of circumstances occurred that cause excel to freak out. Whatever it was, saving it without any code and then adding the lines back slowly seemed to unjam whatever was going on. BTW - after adding all the lines the code is exactly as uploaded - so go figure.

Thanks again for the time and effort - Much appreciated.
Cheers
Dman333

Looks like I got ahead of myself - Now it won't display the tab again. Same Code - Same File - No Check Performance message.

Has Anyone every experienced this before. It's really wonky!

 

[Domenic]

I've tried it as well, and it seems to work fine. I even tried formatting every single cell within the workbook with multiple formatting options, and everything still seems to work fine.

Does it work if you try it in a fresh workbook?

 

[Dman333]

I've tried it as well, and it seems to work fine. I even tried formatting every single cell within the workbook with multiple formatting options, and everything still seems to work fine.

Does it work if you try it in a fresh workbook?

No - I tried a fresh workbook and then deleting lines to see if it would pop up. It showed up

 

[Domenic]

Sorry, but which lines are you deleting? I just meant for you to try adding your XML code to a brand new workbook using the CustomUI editor, without doing anything else to that workbook. In this case, does it work for you? If so, when does it stop working?

 

[Dman333]

So, Here's an interesting twist. First, at this point I should mention exactly what build of Office 365 I'm using - Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2405 Build 16.0.17628.20006) 64-bit on a Windows 10 PC.

I've been banging my head on the wall over this one and finally seem to be able to get it to work consistently (I hope. The way this has gone it may break again right after posting this). I kept trying different combinations of buttons in the XML code and sometimes it would work, and others wouldn't. However, there wasn't really any consistent pattern. So I started looking for things that can trigger oddities in general and removed the "&" from the labels in the menu buttons. After that, it started working consistently with all buttons, etc..

I have no idea why this is happening. Plus, the fact that Jeffrery and Domenic said it worked for them with the "&" included leads me to believe it's some sort of odd combination of OS, Excel Build, and possibly those both with one of my add-Ins. That's all I can think of at this point. But I wanted to let you both know as well as ask if you've ever seen or heard of anything like this in the past. Overall, it's a really straight forward UI setup. I'm going to leave this unresolved for a day or so to see if there's any response to this reply, then I'll tag as resolved.

Any insight or comments are appreciated and thanks to the two of you for taking the time to play with this. It's a weird one.
Dman333