Excel Add-In: Doesn't Stay Enabled

Under heavy load it is possible that the Excel Add-In may crash whilst executing some activity. In this event it is quite likely that Excel will disable it to prevent it impacting system stability.

It is usually possible for the user to re-enable the Add-In by:

Starting Excel
Going to “File->Options” – and then selecting the “Add-ins” item on the left hand side
Select "COM Add-Ins" from the Manage box highlighted and click "Go"
This displays another dialog which includes the FastClose Add-In, check the box next to it and FastClose should be enabled.

If that doesn't work check the drop-down list for "Disabled Items".

At the bottom, in the Manage box, select "Disabled Items" from the drop-down menu and click "Go".
In the Disabled Items dialog box, locate the FastClose add-in that you want to enable.
Select the add-in and click "Enable".
Click OK and restart Excel if needed.

If you still cannot reenable the add-in when you launch Excel it means the registry process has to be done again.

This problem is caused, and can be resolved, by a registry setting

Open the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to the folder:
- 64-bit Excel: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins\FastClose
- 32-bit Excel: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Excel\AddIns\FastClose
Within this folder is a setting called "LoadBehavior" - this should be set to "3".
For reference, the values are as follows:

LoadBehavior Option	Description
0	The Add-In is disabled. Users can enable the Add-In temporarily by activating the Add-In in the COM Add-In dialog box.
1	The Add-In is enabled. This temporary activation means that the Add-In is disabled again when Microsoft Excel is closed.
2	The Add-In is disabled. Users can enable it in the COM Add-In dialog box. This sets the value to 3.
3	The Add-In is enabled. If required, users can disable it in the COM Add-In dialog box. This sets the value to 2.