My workbook tabs have all disappeared !!!

[GregDiel]

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help me out here. All of the tabs for any worksheet I open have now disappeared. They aren't completely gone because I can navigate though a right click event but I cannot see them.

I have checked under Tools --> Options and verified that the box is checked to show tabs so it isn't that simple.

If you see below you may understand what I mean. The tab section is showing but it's like there is something blocking it. This happens with existing or new documents and with Template I download from the web. If I send files to anyone they work fine and all the tabs are visable to them. If they send back it's the same as before, so it isn't a file issue.

Has anyone ever seen this before and know how to fix it without running a repair on Excel or reinstalling it?

 

[texasalynn]

I haven't see it mentioned and just in case you haven't checked...
Have you looked to see if the sheets are hidden? To do that you select Alt+F11, then in the properties window as you click on the sheet name it will show if it is hidden.

 

[GregDiel]

I checked the add-in available section and there doesn't appear to be any add-ins that are running currently.

 

[lbitter]

Interim fix

Okay, while I haven't found a complete solution, I do have an interim fix. This Excel glitch has bugged me for quite a while! You can't maximize or resize your window or even toggle between the tabs.

In the meantime, you can click on View, then Full Screen. Select the tab you want. To get the menus at the top of the screen back, click on the Close Full Screen button that should appear on a floating menu. This doesn’t let you maximize, but it'll let you navigate to different tabs. You can repeat this each time you need a different tab.

I'm still searching for the real solution, but this should help in the interim. I'm eager to see if anyone can crack this. It would also be interesting to know what keystroke combination or action creates this situation.

Good luck!

 

[GregDiel]

I wish I knew how this situation was started in the first place.

As a quick fix I just went out to our SMS server and pushed a reinstall of office to this laptop.

That fixed my problem but that my not help anyone that has done a lot of customizing or anything.

 

[lbitter]

Possible cause of the problem

After thinking about it, I realized this issue has happened to workbooks which are protected. So I just tried unprotecting the workbook and the problem went away. Protecting the workbook causes the problem spoecifically when you select the "windows" checkbox while protecting. If you deselect this box before protecting, you should be fine.

 

[GregDiel]

That is interesting. I didn't have any protection on the workbooks and it would happen with any files I opened or made as new...

Glad there is one more thing to look for if it happens again though!