Excel 2013 Issue - Opening a worksheet, opens a new blank worksheet too

[privatemoon]

I had Office 2010, but I thought I should try out Office 2013, however once I did I found that everytime I opened up one of my Excel worksheets I also opened up a second, blank worksheet as well. At first I thought it was my personal.xlsx, but when I unhid it (saved), then hid it again (saved), the blank worksheet still appeared. I have no idea what the issue is, can anyone help me out?

 

[markwilliams12]

What add-ins are you all using? I found this to be an issue when I had ASAP Utilities 5.2.1 enabled. But the workbook open correctly when the add in was disabled.

 

[wutsitsa]

I fixed it by removing personal.xls from C:/Program Files(x86)/Microsoft Office/OFFICE11/XLSTART. It wasn't an .xlsx file because I upgraded from Excel 2003

 

[Rick35758]

I've got the same issue and then some. Opening Excel 2013 always opens up two worksheets even if I don't select an existing worksheet. I also have a problem in that I CAN'T CLOSE either of the worksheets. The "X" in the top right doesn't close. Neither the "Close all windows" or the "X" under Excel in the taskbar works either. The only way to close Excel is through CTRL-ALT-DEL and the Windows Task Manager.

 

[Bastien]

What add-ins are you all using? I found this to be an issue when I had ASAP Utilities 5.2.1 enabled. But the workbook open correctly when the add in was disabled.

Hello Mark,

I'm sorry to read this.

A few months ago we got another user with a similar issue and he got it fixed by simply turning all other add-ins off and on again.

<i>"I really don't understand what happened. I turn off "Add-in Mrg 2007-2013" addin and problem persisted, then I turned off the others remaining addins and the problem was only solved when I turned off the last one: Analysis ToolPak. I opened and closed several times different excel files with no problem at all. Then I turned on the others addins one by one and checking every time and everything ok. Later in the day by curiosity I also turned on Analysis ToolPak and the "shadow" file did not appeared. So I do not have problem any more and all addins are as in initial situation.
During some time before your last email I was suspecting that having the preview panel on in windows explorer was a possible cause of the problem, but who knows what happened. Thanks very much for your help!!!!!"</i>

Since then we got this reported 4 more times and each of those times turning the add-ins off and on again fixed the extra window. (However, we haven't been able to reproduce this ourselves and also have no logical explanation for this and why it would make a difference.)

I know this reply is about 9 months too late, but I mention it here because it may still help you or others.

Kind regards,
Bastien Mensink (author of ASAP Utilities)

 

[FDibbins]

I have that happening now because I have Personal.xlsb unhidden/visible. This is not a problem for me, but could be what's causing your issue. If you hide that, it doesn show

 

[yuulimoe]

I got it fixed...but the solution is kinda weird.

I went to file > options > general
set screentip style from "show feature descriptions in screentips" to "don't show screentips"

hit ok. closed excel. reopened my file and the problem went away.

I tried to set the option settings back to see if it would recreate the problem but it did not...so it was kinda weird...I guess it refreshed the xlsb files?

hope this helps!

 

[AmberS]

Topic:

I think I've found the solution, first I unhid personal.xlsx and saved. I thought it was a problem with one of my add-ons so I disabled ASAP Utilities, then closed the document. I opened up the document again, closed the document, which left me with only personal.xlsx, hid that, closed the document, and selected to save the personal.xlsx in the prompt.


When I opened up the document again, there was only the document and not a second blank spreedsheet.

This is the way to solve the problem, although disabling an add-on is not necessary. I had the same problem because I had created macros, which saves in PERSONAL.xlsb located in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART
You can just open from this location go to the View tab and select Hide. From now on when you open a file this will no longer open as well, but will still allow use of, for example, macros created that you'd want to use in multiple files.
Now that I have seen the solution to the problem I recall having unhidden this PERSONAL workbook that gets created, just cannot recall as to why I would have done it.

 

[chuckgcs]

Here are the results of my testing with the ASAP Utilities extra workbook appears then remains open at exit issue. My workstation is running 32bit Office 2013a under Windows 8.1 64bit. (Your Mileage May Vary)
• The blank-extra workbook only appears when Excel is started by double clicking an existing workbook file, NOT in a new workbook when Excel is started from the application shortcut.
• If the blank-extra workbook is closed first it also closes the other (real) workbook.
• The issue only occurs if ASAP Utilities is one of multiple Add-Ins that are enabled.
• The issue is NOT present if ASAP Utilities is the ONLY Add-In enabled.
• The issue is NOT present if ASAP Utilities is THE FIRST Add-In enabled of several.
• HERE IS THE CORRECTION THAT WORKED FOR ME:
1. Disable/uncheck ALL Add-Ins, and Close ALL workbook(s).
2. Open any workbook and Enable/check the ASAP Utilities ADD-In, then Close the workbook.
3. Open any workbook and enable/check the additional Add-In(s), then Close the workbook.
4. Open AN EXISTING-WORKBOOK FILE, and (hopefully) the blank-extra workbook will not open.

To explain the behavior in other words; ASAP Utilities seems to have a “me first” attitude. On my computer it just wants to be chosen first. Given the multitude of Add-In problems that are present in Office 2013, I am grateful that ASAP Utilities is still working at all – It is a great value and I encourage all users to make a contribution to the developer.

Chuck

 

[one3nine0]

Here are the results of my testing with the ASAP Utilities extra workbook appears then remains open at exit issue. My workstation is running 32bit Office 2013a under Windows 8.1 64bit. (Your Mileage May Vary)
• The blank-extra workbook only appears when Excel is started by double clicking an existing workbook file, NOT in a new workbook when Excel is started from the application shortcut.
• If the blank-extra workbook is closed first it also closes the other (real) workbook.
• The issue only occurs if ASAP Utilities is one of multiple Add-Ins that are enabled.
• The issue is NOT present if ASAP Utilities is the ONLY Add-In enabled.
• The issue is NOT present if ASAP Utilities is THE FIRST Add-In enabled of several.
• HERE IS THE CORRECTION THAT WORKED FOR ME:
1. Disable/uncheck ALL Add-Ins, and Close ALL workbook(s).
2. Open any workbook and Enable/check the ASAP Utilities ADD-In, then Close the workbook.
3. Open any workbook and enable/check the additional Add-In(s), then Close the workbook.
4. Open AN EXISTING-WORKBOOK FILE, and (hopefully) the blank-extra workbook will not open.

To explain the behavior in other words; ASAP Utilities seems to have a “me first” attitude. On my computer it just wants to be chosen first. Given the multitude of Add-In problems that are present in Office 2013, I am grateful that ASAP Utilities is still working at all – It is a great value and I encourage all users to make a contribution to the developer.

Chuck

Holy crap, I spent months trying to find a solution to this problem, from VBA code, to hide and unhide, and this is the only way its been fixed. Thank you so much!!!!

 

[lavanyanaren]

Thanks. This solution has fixed the problem for me.

Office 2013 was already installed throughout the office, it would take time to uninstall and then reinstall 2010. Besides, Office doesn't really have any serious defects like force closes that would make my boss consider downgrading.

Topic:

I think I've found the solution, first I unhid personal.xlsx and saved. I thought it was a problem with one of my add-ons so I disabled ASAP Utilities, then closed the document. I opened up the document again, closed the document, which left me with only personal.xlsx, hid that, closed the document, and selected to save the personal.xlsx in the prompt.


When I opened up the document again, there was only the document and not a second blank spreedsheet.