Several Office users report getting the “Microsoft is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action” error when trying to run a VBA script or when trying to run Excel from a BI launch pad. The issue is reported to occur on all the recent Windows versions including Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10) Show
An Object Linking & Embedding (OLE) action is essentially a mechanism designed to help various Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Sharepoint) to communicate with other applications in order to complete an operation successfully. What is causing the ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action’ error?We investigated this particular issue by looking at various user reports and looking at the official Microsoft documentation. We even managed to replicate the issue on one of our testing machines. If Excel issues a communication request to another application (let’s say Word), it does it using the OLE object and then waits for the response from the application. If the response does not arrive in the default time threshold, Excel will trigger the following warning to the end user: ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action’ Although the error message is always the same, there is actually a couple of fairly common scenario that will trigger this particular error in Microsoft Excel:
If you’re currently struggling to resolve this particular error message, this article will provide you with a selection of troubleshooting steps. Below you have a selection of methods that other users in a similar situation have successfully used to get the issue resolved. For the best results, follow the methods below in order until you encounter a fix that is effective in getting the issue resolved. Let’s begin Method 1: Uninstalling Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker (if applicable)Some users have managed to resolve the error message by uninstalling the Adobe Acrobat PDF Maker add-in. As it turns out, this plugin has the potential to conflict with certain versions of Microsoft Excel. Here’s a list with Office versions that are compatible with PDF Maker:
Note: You can consult Adobe’s full compatibility guide (here). If this scenario is applicable and you don’t rely on PDF Maker that heavily, you can most likely resolve the issue by either disabling or uninstalling the Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker add-in. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this: Update: You can also use the this Fix-it (here) to automatically disable the PDFMaker add-in automatically. It’s compatible with every recent Windows version including Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
If you’re still encountering the ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action’ error, move down to the next method below. Method 2: Allowing applications that use DDE in Excel’s settingsAs a lot of users have reported, the issue might occur if Microsoft Excel is set up to ignore any applications that try to communicate with Excel using the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) protocol. For example, say you double-click on an Excel workbook in Windows Explorer – as soon as the command registers, a dynamic data exchange (DDE) is sent to Excel. That exchange will instruct Excel to open the workbook that you’ve just double-clicked. If Excel is set up to ignore applications that use the Dynamic Data Exchange protocol, the exchange will not happen and you will see the ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action’ error message instead. Luckily, you can easily rectify this issue by accessing the Options menu of Excel and enabling the DDE protocol. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:
If you’re still encountering the same error message, move over to the next method below. Method 3: Killing the Internet Explorer (IE) processSeveral users seeing the “Microsoft is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action” error when trying to save the file, you might be seeing the error because of an IE process is interfering with the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) exchange. Users in a similar situation have reported that the issue was resolved after they killed the IE process manually. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:
If you’re still encountering the same error, move down to the next method below. Method 4: Suppressing the Excel Application MessagingIf you’re seeing the error message when trying to run a VBA script, one workaround would be to suppress the application messaging by using a tiny piece of code. But keep in mind that this will not treat the issue itself – It’s only a workaround that prevents the error message from appearing. However, it will be helpful if your only goal is to prevent the error message from appearing. Here’s a quick guide on inserting a VBA code to excel Workbook that will suppress the excel application messaging:
Once this procedure is complete, you should no longer see the ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action’ error with this WorkBook (even though it might still occur in the background). Method 5: Disable Compatibility Mode (if applicable)Some users have managed to resolve the issue after discovering that the Excel executable was running in Compatibility mode. This can happen due to manual user intervention or a 3rd party application. If you suspect that Excel is running in compatibility mode, disable it and see if the ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action’ error stops appearing. Typically, the error is reported to occur if the Excel executable is configured to run in Compatibility mode with Windows Vista and older. Here’s a quick guide on disabling Compatibility Mode:
Kevin is a dynamic and self-motivated information technology professional, with a Thorough knowledge of all facets pertaining to network infrastructure design, implementation and administration. Superior record of delivering simultaneous large-scale mission critical projects on time and under budget. How do I turn off OLE action in Excel?Solution. Click on File > Options.. Click on the Advanced option in the left pane.. Scroll down in the right pane to the General section.. Click OK to close the Excel Options dialog.. How do I fix OLE application error?One of the solutions is to “Reboot Your System” and try again. Sometimes after closing all apps and restarting your systems may solve this OLE action error.
How do I get rid of OLE action?3: How to fix the “Excel is waiting for OLE” issue. Open the Excel sheet.. Go to the File menu.. Click on Options.. Go to the Advanced tab.. Scroll down to the General area and check “Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)”. Restart Excel.. What causes OLE error in Excel?OLE error when opening Word and Excel documents with embedded objects. You may receive an OLE error when opening Word and Excel documents that contain embedded objects. The error may read: Microsoft Excel (or Word) is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action.
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