(Fixed) Excel is Waiting for Another Application to Complete OLE Action

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Many people want to know how to Fix Excel is Waiting for Another Application to Complete OLE Action. You may encounter the error message “Microsoft Excel is waiting for another program to complete an action” while working with other programs like Word or others in Excel. Generally, this happens when Excel doesn’t receive the necessary data from the other app it’s interacting with within the expected time period. And then it gets stuck waiting for the other application. Sometimes this can be a bug, so it’s worth a try to restart the app/system.

Otherwise, you may need further troubleshooting. OLE stands for object linking and embedding. It was developed to enable Office applications to interact with other programs. Excel sends a command to another program, such as Word or PowerPoint, and then waits for the program to respond. The error occurs when the program takes too long to respond and an OLE action error pops up in Excel. If you have this problem in Excel, there are a few ways you can try to Fix Excel is Waiting for Another Application to Complete OLE Action.

What is the OLE action error in Excel?

Object Linking and Embedding, or OLE, is an action that Microsoft has created to allow Office programs to work together. With this tool, an application editing a document can send parts of it to other apps, retrieve content from them and then bring it back to the editing application. It’s made by Microsoft and it lets the Office program work with other programs. It lets an editing app send part of a document to other apps, which can then import more content and send it back.

You may have a chart in an Excel spreadsheet that you would like to use in a PowerPoint presentation. Using OLE, you can copy the chart from Excel and paste it into PowerPoint. When you do this, the chart is still linked to the original Excel file. If you change the chart in Excel, the changes will be reflected in the chart in PowerPoint. You can also “embed” an object from one program into another program with OLE. This means that the object is saved in the program file you have inserted it into. Linking is different because the object is still stored in the original file.

What are the causes of the OLE action error in Excel?

1. Missing or damaged OLE objects: If the Excel file contains OLE objects (such as linked or embedded files) that are missing or damaged, it may result in an OLE action error.
2. Compatibility issues: If you try to open an Excel file created in a newer version of Excel with an older version of Excel, it may cause compatibility issues and trigger the OLE action error.
3. Security settings: If the security settings in Excel or your operating system are set to restrict or block OLE operations, it can lead to an OLE action error.
4. Third-party add-ins or antivirus software: Sometimes third-party add-ins or antivirus software can interfere with OLE operations and cause the error to occur.
5. Insufficient system resources: If your computer doesn’t have enough memory or processing power to handle OLE operations in Excel, it can result in the OLE action error.
6. Corrupted Excel installation: If the Excel application itself is corrupted, it can lead to various errors, including the OLE action error.

Ways to Fix Excel is Waiting for Another Application to Complete OLE Action

Allowing applications that use DDE in Excel’s settings

As many users have reported, the problem can occur if Microsoft Excel is set up to ignore programs that attempt to communicate with Excel using the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) protocol. If Excel is set up to ignore programs using the Dynamic Data Exchange protocol, the exchange will not take place and you will instead see the error message ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another program to perform an OLE action’.

1. Open Microsoft Excel and click on File. It doesn’t matter if you open a new workbook or a new document.
2. In the File menu, click Options on the left-hand side.
3. In the Excel Options menu, click the Advanced tab in the left-hand menu. Then move over to the right pane and scroll down until you reach the General section. When you get there, make sure the Ignore other programs that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) box is unchecked.
4. Click Ok to save the changes and then restart Microsoft Excel. Then repeat the action that previously caused the “Microsoft is waiting for another program to complete an OLE action” error and see if the problem still occurs.

Suppressing the Excel Application Messaging

If you see the error message when you try to run a VBA script, one solution may be to suppress the application message using a small piece of code. But keep in mind that this doesn’t solve the problem itself – it’s only a workaround to prevent 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 in the excel workbook that will suppress the excel application’s notifications:

1. Open your workbook in Excel.
2. Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).
3. Right-click on ThisWorkbook in the project bar (left side) and select Insert > Module.
4. Insert the following code in the newly created module (in the right part of the screen):
   • Private Declare Function CoRegisterMessageFilter Lib “ole32” (ByVal IFilterIn As Long, ByRef PreviousFilter) As Long Public Sub KillMessageFilter()    Dim IMsgFilter As Long    CoRegisterMessageFilter 0&, IMsgFilter End Sub Public Sub RestoreMessageFilter()    Dim IMsgFilter As Long    CoRegisterMessageFilter IMsgFilter, IMsgFilter End Sub
5. Press Ctrl + S and click No when you see the warning “The following functions cannot be saved in a macro-free workbook”.
6. Next, select a suitable location for the modified workbook, enter a proper name, and make sure Save as type is set to Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook.
7. Once everything is in order, click Save to create the macro-enabled Excel workbook.
8. Press Alt + Q to close the editor and go back to your workbook.
9. Once back in the editor, press Alt + F8, select the macro you just created, and click Run.

Uninstalling Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker

Some users have been able to get rid of the error message by uninstalling the Adobe Acrobat PDF Maker add-in. It turns out that this plug-in could cause problems with some versions of Microsoft Excel.

1. Open Microsoft Excel and click on File in the ribbon.
2. From the File menu, click Options (at the bottom of the menu list).
3. In the Excel Options menu, click Add-ins in the menu on the left-hand side. Then go over to the right pane, expand the drop-down menu associated with Manage and select COM Add-ins. Then click the Go… button to open the COM Add-ins menu.
4. In the COM Add-ins field, either uncheck the Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin box or select it and click Remove to delete it completely.
5. Restart your computer and repeat the steps that previously caused the error when the next startup is complete.

Disable Compatibility Mode

Some users have managed to resolve the issue after discovering that the Excel executable file was running in compatibility mode. This can happen due to manual user intervention or a third-party program.

If you suspect Excel is running in compatibility mode, disable it and see if the ‘Microsoft Excel is waiting for another program to complete an OLE action’ error stops appearing. The error is typically reported to occur if the Excel executable file is configured to run in compatibility mode with Windows Vista and older.

1. Open the Properties window.
2. Navigate to the Compatibility tab.
3. Locate the “Run this program in compatibility mode” box.
4. Uncheck the box to disable compatibility mode.

Killing the Internet Explorer (IE) process

Several users are seeing the error “Microsoft is waiting for another program to perform an OLE action” when trying to save the file, and this may be due to an IE process interfering with the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) exchange. Users in a similar situation have reported that the issue was resolved when they manually killed the IE process. Here’s a quick guide on how to do it:

1. To open Task Manager, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. Go to the Processes tab in Task Manager to see if there is an Internet Explorer process that is running right now.
3. If you see one open, you can close it by right-clicking on it and choosing “End task.”
4. Go back to Excel and see if the “Microsoft is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action” error is still happening when you try to save the file.
5. If you keep getting the same error, go to the next method below.

Conclusion

Are you bothered by the error Microsoft Excel waits for another program to finish an OLE action? What causes this error and how to fix it? Here we will analyze the possible causes and offer you some solutions. According to user reports, the Microsoft Excel waiting for another program to finish an OLE action error will happen on systems including Windows 7/8.1/10. It’s a fairly common error. But it confuses many users.

Questions and Answers