Excel 365 starts with error message "sorry excel can't open two workbooks with the same name at the same time"

[PeteWright]

Hello everybody!

As the topic title says I'm getting an error message each time Excel 365 starts (fresh restart, after Excel was closed).

Maybe there's an issue with one of my Add-Ins, I cannot explain this otherwise.

Any help appreciated.

 

[mike31z]

I have had that same problem, (Excel) never wrong, even if you have it open in a different window. What I had to do is change the name pf one of them by adding a V1 to the name in order to keep the properly sorted. some times I get to V6 before I get it correct. Then you have a new master to work from.

Mike P in Wisconsin

 

[Alex Blakenburg]

Do you have a file in a custom Excel start up folder ?
(see image below - "At startup, open all file in:")

And do you have a file with the same name in the Excel Default start up folder ?
C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART

 

[PeteWright]

Do you have a file in a custom Excel start up folder ?
(see image below - "At startup, open all file in:")

And do you have a file with the same name in the Excel Default start up folder ?
C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART

View attachment 53144

No, only one file in startup folder and nothing that opens at start:

 

[Alex Blakenburg]

That might actually be it. Typically you don't put you add-in in your startup folder.
You browse to it and the add-in manager stores where it is.
By putting XL2BB.xlam in the startup (XLSTART) folder, it may well be loading it up twice.

Try moving it out of there and putting it somewhere else. See if that fixes it.
If it does you will most likely need to go into the Add-In manager and repoint it at the new location when you do want to use XL2BB the first time next time.

 

[PeteWright]

That might actually be it. Typically you don't put you add-in in your startup folder.
You browse to it and the add-in manager stores where it is.
By putting XL2BB.xlam in the startup (XLSTART) folder, it may well be loading it up twice.

Try moving it out of there and putting it somewhere else. See if that fixes it.
If it does you will most likely need to go into the Add-In manager and repoint it at the new location when you do want to use XL2BB the first time next time.

Great, thanks, that was it!

I moved the XL2BB Add-In to another folder and Excel starts up normally now.

Now I've got two more questions regarding Add-Ins.
What is a "good folder" to store Add-Ins? Right now I have created a folder in "C:\custom\programs\Excel\AddIns\xl2bb.xlam".
Is this a good choice?

One of my other Add-Ins (Professor Excel Tools) is located in "C:\Users\John\Documents\ProfessorExcelTools\Professor-Excel-Tools.xlam"
Is it safe to move it out of that folder to another location?

 

[Alex Blakenburg]

I'm afraid I am probably not the best person to ask, I am a bit undecided myself.
If its a workcomputer and they migrate you to a new machine, they generally also migrate everything from your documents folder, so I tend to put my add-ins in a folder on the C drive under Document in an Excel sub-folder. (careful with this, it may take you to a onedrive or sharepoint folder). It is also likely that when you backup your own computer that you will focus on your Documents folders.

If you put it on OneDrive then you can access it if you use a different computer BUT if you don't have a network connection you won't be able to access it on any computer.

For either of the above you may want to set the folder (and subfolders) up as a trusted location.

There is a default folder under C:\USERS\YOURNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\AddIns but I don't personally tend to use this.
(for quicker navigatioin type in %appdata%)