Page Layout>>Background Error "Bad Request - Request Too Long"

[rwleighjr]

As soon as I click the Background icon under Page Layout, I'm getting an "HTTP Error 400. The size of the request is too long."

Using Excel 365/Windows 10. Problem shows up on both of my PCs. I have Norton 360 with the Driver Update and VPN add-ons on both. This problem only appeared about a month ago which was about the time I added the two Norton features. Coincidence?? I checked forum questions first before posting this.

Thank you.

 

[6StringJazzer]

First, let me say I haven't seen this, so this is just an educated guess.

When you click that icon, I suspect that Excel is making an http call to something. The reason I think that is that it pauses briefly before showing the menu (see image below, which flashes for just a fraction of a second). It seems possible that Norton does not like the idea of Excel doing that. That error is generally caused by an http header field that is too long. Beyond that I don't know what the problem could be, whether Norton is involved, or how to fix it. A wild guess would be to make configure Norton to allow Excel to make outgoing http requests. The other thing to try is to back out those add-ons.

 

[rwleighjr]

Thank you, Thomas. I've decided to just uninstall all of Norton and replace it with something else. I'm just hoping I don't have to reinstall Excel.

I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly.

 

[rwleighjr]

Apologies Jeff for calling you Thomas. It's been a long day.

 

[rwleighjr]

This issue was resolved by uninstalling Microsoft 365 and then reinstalling. Hurrah! I was actually able to figure this out. I hope this can help someone else on this great forum who has this problem. I'm just excited I was finally able to make a contribution after all these years!