Sometimes Excel starts but its screen is blank?

[Peter]

Hello,

Thanks for reviewing my question. I have installed Office 2007 and
everything has been working fine with the exception of Excel. Sometimes when
I launch Excel it comes up but its screen is blank - no menus. Its window
resize control (normally in the right corner) is at the top corner - I can
even right click on it to get its menu. However, there are no menus, no
spreadsheet and I cannot close it. I have to right click on the task bar to
close it. After closing it, I launch Excel again and it comes fine.

I have tried to repair it, uninstall and reinstall but the problem still
occurs.

Any suggestions?

Many Thanks
Peter

 

[Bill]

I have experienced the same problem. Excel would start with a blank screen
(what should be the bottom menu bar is on top starting with "Ready") about
half the time when I used shortcuts from the menu bar or desktop. When I
clicked on an Excel document it always started with a blank screen. It would
always start correctly if I selected "Run" Excel from the menu.

I have spent over six hours on the phone with Microsoft support trying to
resolve the problem with at least three technicians (two Excel, one Vista)
taking over control of my computer to try to resolve the problem. I finally
realized that support was not going to resolve the issue and they did manage
to screw up other software installed on my machine.

I finally restored my computer to its original state with Vista Home Premium
and before I installed any non Microsoft software I installed Office 2007
Pro. Everything now seems to be working. I will watch very closely to see
if the installation of any other software changes that.

One other comment about the blank screen. If you move the bottom of the
window up close to the top and then bring it down you do get the Excel ribbon
on top but no grid and most buttons work but not the minimize, maximize or
close bottons. You also cannot load any spreadsheet.

Sorry that I have not found an easier solution but I just could not live
with the program opening correctly about half the time.

Bill

 

[Junquet]

Hello Peter - I too have the same problem. I have an OEM version of
Microsoft Office Professional installed and have been unable to get help from
either my supplier, Evesham, or from Microsoft Tech Suppt.
On my machine, the problem is intermittant - sometimes Excel opens normally
-when it opens showing only the blue screen [which incidentally seems to be a
preview screen with zoom options] I can minimise it to the Taskbar by right
clicking on the taskbar button. If I open Excel again from the Start menu
the program runs normally. I can then close the preview screen.
However, I should really like advice on how to fix this issue as it is very
irritating and if there is anyone out there who has solved it please let me
know! Regards Junquet

 

[Bill]

Just a follow up to my previous post.

Although Excel seemed to be working perfectly after first reloading the
operating system and Office Pro I found after rebooting that I was getting a
message everytime I opened Excel that said: "BCM Office Addin Office
application version does not match". By clicking on "OK" the message
disappeared and Excel worked fine. When I went to the Excel options and
looked at addins, no addins were installed. On my previous installation the
BCM addin was installed and could not be removed without editing the
registry. (Removing this addin did not correct the blue screen) This time
it was not installed and could not be installed without editing the registry.
When I tried to select it I received a message: "Business Contact Manager
for Outlook not loaded. A runtime error occured during the loading of the
Com Add-ins".

I finally went to the uninstall programs and uninstalled "Business Contact
Manager for Outlook" and no longer get the message when starting Excel. I
did try to reinstall BCM but always got the same results. I am not sure what
the add-in does but I guess I will live without it as my Excel in now working
properly.

Bill

 

[Bill]

Are you also running Quickbooks Pro 2007. As I was reloading my programs I
kept checking Excel after loading each program. After loading Quickbooks Pro
2007, Excel worked fine but after a reboot I was back to the blank screen
about half the time. Uninstalling Quickbooks Pro solved the problem. I will
call tech support back and let them know.

Bill

 

[Scott]

Same problem as mine here in Australia after i bought new Dell Laptop
computer. Please keep me informed to how to get rid of blank page as opening
workbook in Excel 2007.
regards
Scott

 

[smart]

I have experienced the same problem. Excel would start with a blank screen
(what should be the bottom menu bar is on top starting with "Ready") about
half the time when I used shortcuts from the menu bar or desktop. When I
clicked on an Excel document it always started with a blank screen. It
would
always start correctly if I selected "Run" Excel from the menu.

I have spent over six hours on the phone with Microsoft support trying to
resolve the problem with at least three technicians (two Excel, one Vista)
taking over control of my computer to try to resolve the problem. I
finally
realized that support was not going to resolve the issue and they did
manage
to screw up other software installed on my machine.

I finally restored my computer to its original state with Vista Home
Premium
and before I installed any non Microsoft software I installed Office 2007
Pro. Everything now seems to be working. I will watch very closely to
see
if the installation of any other software changes that.

One other comment about the blank screen. If you move the bottom of the
window up close to the top and then bring it down you do get the Excel
ribbon
on top but no grid and most buttons work but not the minimize, maximize or
close bottons. You also cannot load any spreadsheet.

Sorry that I have not found an easier solution but I just could not live
with the program opening correctly about half the time.

Bill

 

[ipsource]

The issue with Excel opening a "blank" Document has been occurring at
our Company's office since we upgraded to Office 2007. I have found
that every single instance of the issue has been caused by Adobe
Acrobat professional or Reader being installed, this only affects the
users who are NOT running the latest version of Adobe Acrobat 8.1. The
Resolution to this issue was to remove Adobe Reader and/or
Professional from the system. Once you have completed this step, you
may receive a "compile error" when you attempt to start Excel. If this
occurs you can delete the "XLSTART" directory from the following
location "C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Office12". The next time
you attempt to run Excel the windows installer will run and "repair"
the installation. Excel should now start without issue. You can also
re-install Adobe Acrobat, just make sure you install the latest
version.

 

[rick]

The issue withExcelopening a "blank" Document has been occurring at
our Company's office since we upgraded to Office2007. I have found
that every single instance of the issue has been caused by Adobe
Acrobat professional or Reader being installed, this only affects the
users who are NOT running the latest version of Adobe Acrobat 8.1. The
Resolution to this issue was to remove Adobe Reader and/or
Professional from the system. Once you have completed this step, you
may receive a "compile error" when you attempt to startExcel. If this
occurs you can delete the "XLSTART" directory from the following
location "C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Office12". The next time
you attempt to runExcelthe windows installer will run and "repair"
the installation.Excelshould now start without issue. You can also
re-install Adobe Acrobat, just make sure you install the latest
version.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Interesting comment about Acrobat. I have just installed 8.1, and I
started having the problem. I'm not sure if I was having the problem
before since I just upgraded to Office 2007 a few days before. What I
have found is that if Windows Explorer is open (Trying to launch a
spreadsheet directly), the blank screen will appear every time. If
you close WExp, and start Excell from the start menu, it will come up
fine. If WExp is open, and you launch Excel from the Start menu, you
will still get the blank screen. I'm not sure if unloading Acrobat
will solve this, but I thought I would offer up this finding..