Microsoft Excel is waiting for another request to complete an OLE action

Multiple Office users report getting the error “Microsoft is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action” when they try to run a VBA script or when they try to run Excel from a BI launch pad. The problem is reported to occur on all recent versions of Windows, including Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10)

Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action

What is an OLE share?

An object linking and embedding action (BE) it is essentially a mechanism designed to help various Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Sharepoint) to communicate with other applications to complete an operation successfully.

What is causing the error “Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action”?

We investigated this particular topic by analyzing various user reports and reviewing official Microsoft documentation.. We even managed to replicate the theme on one of our test 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 within the predetermined time threshold, Excel will trigger the following warning to the end user: $ 0027 Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action $ 0027

Although the error message is always the same, there are actually a couple of pretty common scenarios that will trigger this particular error in Microsoft Excel:

• DDE protocol is disabled in Excel: this problem could be due to the dynamic data exchange protocol (RIGHT) it is disabled in Excel settings.

• Corrupt Office installation: Some affected users have reported that the issue was resolved after reinstalling or repairing the entire Office installation.

• Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker add-in conflicts with Excel: there have been multiple reports from users who have been able to resolve the issue by disabling or uninstalling the PDFMaker plugin.

• The IE process (Internet Explorer) is interfering with DDE: This is reported to occur normally when the user tries to save a file in Microsoft Excel. In this case, the solution is to close the process manually.

If you are currently having trouble resolving this particular error message, This article will provide you with a selection of troubleshooting steps. Then, shows a selection of methods that other users in a similar situation have used successfully to solve the problem.

For best results, Follow the methods below until you find a solution that is effective in solving the problem. Let us begin

Method 1: desinstale Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker (if appropriate)

Some users have managed to resolve the error message by uninstalling the Adobe Acrobat PDF Maker plugin. It turns out that this add-in has the potential to conflict with certain versions of Microsoft Excel.

Here is a list of the Office versions that are compatible with PDF Maker:

• Office 2010 (Office 14) from 32 Y 64 bits

• Office 2013 (Office 15) from 32 Y 64 bits

• Office 2016 (Office 16) from 32 Y 64 bits

Note: You can refer to the full compatibility guide from Adobe (here).

If this scenario is applicable and you don't trust PDF Maker that much, you can most likely solve the problem by disabling or uninstalling the Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker plugin.

Here is a quick guide on how to do this:

Upgrade: you can also use this Fix-it (here) to automatically disable the PDFMaker plugin. It is compatible with all recent versions of Windows, including Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

1. Open Microsoft Excel and click File using the ribbon bar. Open Microsoft Excel and go to File

2. In the File menu, click Options (at the bottom of the menu list). Go to File> Choices

3. In the Excel options menu, click on Plugins using the menu on the left. Then go to the right panel, Expand the dropdown associated with Manage and choose COM Add-ins. Then click the Go button … to open the COM add-in menu Go to Plugins, choose COM Add-ins from the drop-down menu and click Go

4. In the COM Add-ins box, uncheck the box associated with the Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Add-in or select it and click Delete to remove it completely.

5. Restart your computer and redo the steps that previously failed after the next startup completes.

If you still get the error $ 0027, Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action $ 0027, scroll down to next method below.

Method 2: allow applications that use DDE in Excel settings

As many users have reported, the problem could occur if Microsoft Excel is configured to ignore any application that tries to communicate with Excel using dynamic data exchange protocol (RIGHT).

For example, Suppose you double click an Excel workbook in Windows Explorer; as soon as the command is registered, a dynamic data exchange is sent (RIGHT) a Excel. That swap will tell Excel to open the workbook you just double-clicked.

If Excel is configured to ignore applications that use the dynamic data exchange protocol, the exchange will not occur and the error message will appear instead $ 0027 Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action $ 0027.

Fortunately, you can easily fix this problem by accessing the Excel Options menu and enabling the DDE protocol. Here is a quick guide on how to do this:

1. Open Microsoft Excel and click File. It doesn't matter if you open a new book or a new document. Open Microsoft Excel and go to File

2. In the File menu, click Options in the left pane. Go to File> Choices

3. In the Excel Options menu, click on the Advanced tab on the left menu. Then, move to the right panel and scroll down until you reach the General section. Once there, make sure the checkbox associated with Ignore other applications using Dynamic Data Exchange (RIGHT) is not checked. Enable DDE protocol in Excel

4. Click OK to save your changes, then restart Microsoft Excel. Later, repeat the operation that previously caused the error “Microsoft is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action” and see if the problem persists.

If you still encounter the same error message, continue with next method.

Method 3: kill the Internet Explorer process (IE)

Multiple users seeing the error “Microsoft is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action” when they try to save the file they can see the error because an IE process is interfering with dynamic data exchange (RIGHT).

Users in a similar situation have reported that the issue was resolved after removing the IE process manually. Here is a quick guide on how to do this:

1. Presione Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.

2. Inside Task Manager, go to the Processes tab and see if you have any processes belonging to Internet Explorer that are currently active.

3. If you see one open, just right click on it and choose End Task to close it. Close the Internet Explorer process (IE)

4. Go back to Excel and see if the error “Microsoft is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action” still happens when you try to save the file.

If you still encounter the same error, go to next method below.

Method 4: remove excel message app

If you see the error message when you try to run a VBA script, a solution would be to suppress the application message with a small code snippet.

But keep in mind that this will not fix the problem itself, it's just a workaround that prevents the error message from appearing. However, it will be useful if your only goal is to prevent the error message from appearing.

Here is a quick guide to insert a VBA code into an Excel workbook that will suppress messages from Excel application:

1. Open your workbook in Excel and press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).

2. In the Project bar (left side), right-click on This Book and choose Insert> Module. Right-click on This Book and choose Insert> Module

3. In the newly created module, paste the following code (in the right section of the screen):

   Private Declare Function CoRegisterMessageFilter Lib "ole32" (ByVal IFilterIn As Long, ByRef PreviousFilter) As Long
   Public Sub KillMessageFilter()
    Dim IMsgFilter tan largo
    CoRegisterMessageFilter 0&, IMsgFilter
   End Sub
   Public Sub RestoreMessageFilter()
    Dim IMsgFilter so long
    IMsg message log filter, IMsgFiltro
   Fin Sub

   Upgrade: other users have reported that they have managed to prevent the error message from appearing by using the following VBA code:

   Sub CreaXYZ()
      Dim wdApp as object
     Dim wd as object
       About the Resume next error
     Set wdApp = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
     If the error number  0 entonces
       Set wdApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
     Finish yes
     In Error Go to 0
     Set wd = wdApp.Documents.Open(ThisWorkbook.Path & Application.PathSeparator & "XYZ template.docm")
     wdApp.Visible = True
     Range("A1:B10").CopyPicture xlScreen
     wd.Range.Paste
   End Sub

4. Presione Ctrl + Yes and click No when you see the warning “The following functions cannot be saved in a workbook without macros”. Click No to the warning

5. Later, choose a suitable location for the modified workbook, set a proper name and make sure Save as type is set as Excel Macro Enabled Workbook. Once everything is in order, click Save to create Excel macro-enabled workbook. Create an Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook

6. Press Alt + Q to close the editor and return to your workbook. Once you return to your editor, pressure Alt + F8, select the macro you just created and press Run.

After completing this procedure, you should no longer see the error $ 0027 Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action $ 0027 with this book (though it might still happen in the background).

Method 5: disable compatibility mode (if appropriate)

Some users have managed to resolve the problem after discovering that the Excel executable was running in compatibility mode. This can occur due to manual intervention by the user or a third-party application..

If you suspect that Excel is running in compatibility mode, disable it and see if the error $ 0027 Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action $ 0027 stop showing up. Normally, The error is reported to occur if the Excel executable is configured to run in compatibility mode with Windows Vista and earlier versions.

Here is a quick guide to disable compatibility mode:

1. Right click on the Excel executable (or in the shortcut) and choose Properties. Right click on the Excel executable and choose Properties

2. In the Properties window, go to the Compatibility tab and uncheck the box associated with Run this program in compatibility mode. Uncheck Run this program in compatibility mode