Article ID: 2021065 - Last Review: June 12, 2010 - Revision: 1.0

PowerPivot: You cannot edit embedded Excel workbooks in Word when PowerPivot is enabled

View products that this article applies to.

System TipThis article applies to a different operating system than the one you are using. Article content that may not be relevant to you is disabled.

Expand all | Collapse all

Symptoms

You embed a Microsoft Office Excel 2010 workbook in a Microsoft Office Word document. Additionally, the PowerPivot add-in is enabled for the workbook. When you try to activate the workbook for editing in Office Word, you recieve the following error message:

The program used to create this object is Excel. That program is either not installed on your computer or it is not responding. To edit this object, install Excel or ensure that any dialog boxes in Excel are closed.

Back to the top

Cause

Status: Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Back to the top

Resolution

To resolve this problem, disable PowerPivot in the Office Excel 2010 workbook before you embed it in an Office Word document.

Back to the top

More Information

Steps to reproduce the problem

In Office Excel 2010, create a workbook that has PowerPivot enabled.
Save this workbook, and use "TestPowerPivot.xlsx" as the name of the workbook.
Create an Office Word document, and then embed the TestPowerPivot.xlsx workbook in the Office Word document.
Save the Office Word document, and use "PowerPivot.docx" as the name of the document.
Open the PowerPivot.docx document.
Try to edit the workbook that is embedded in the document.

You expect to be able to edit the Excel workbook. However, you experience the problem that is described in the "Symptoms" section.

Note You do not receive an error message if PowerPivot is already disabled for the embedded workbook.

Back to the top