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First, I am aware of the nearly ubiquitous issue with ActiveX controls and the Dec 2014 MS Excel update. This appears to be different than the common symptoms, but it may be related.

Symptoms:

  1. Open an existing excel sheet that contains an ActiveX control.

  2. Click the button and nothing happens (macro does not launch)

  3. Investigation shows that the button name has changed from "BtnMacroLaunch" to "CommandButton3"

  4. I open the file on other users machines and the button has NOT been renamed and it works correctly.

Environment:

  • The sheets that have this were last saved on another users machines, not mine. When I save a new spreadsheet with an ActiveX, this does not happen.

  • If another users opens and executes a sheet I created, then saves that sheet, when I open it again, the button is renamed

  • This has been a problem since mid Dec 2014 (approx). - which is why I think it is related to the common ActiveX issue.

  • The majority of my office coworkers (I think everyone but me) had the Dec Update done in Dec. My updates were turned off inadvertently by our IT department. All my coworkers also did the delete "forms.exd" workaround.

  • I suspected that since my machine had not gotten the updates, that was the cause of the issue. However, yesterday (Jan 19) I finally got my machine fixed and all the updates applied. I then did the the delete "forms.exd" workaround. Unfortunately, the buttons are still renaming.

  • This does not appear to be exactly the same as the other button rename problem. This is not appending a number to the back of a name, but resetting the name compeletly.

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  • The Question:

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How do is stop MS Excel from renaming the ActiveX button name? Additionally, is there something that needs to be addressed within our office?

Community
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Matthew Stockton
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  • I see "Symptoms" and "Environment" but no "Question". Maybe edit your post to include the question clearly: at the top/bottom, or somewhere? – Rusan Kax Jan 20 '15 at 15:35
  • @Rusan Kax The question is kind of obvious. It is: What is the solution to this problem? I have had the exact same problem since mid December and it's very annoying. I have not found an answer, and the fact that this page has nothing makes me wonder if there is a way to fix this. Is there a setting in Excel that tells it to treat files created on other machines the same as files created on itself? – JLee Jan 28 '15 at 16:25
  • @JLee Sure. But obvious is not the same as "exactly stated". If the OP is going to ask other people for help, it helps to state the problem. Its all documented [here](http://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask). And no, there is no such setting for Excel. The *real* solution is to never use ActiveX...especially if you develop for others and distribute code. Its a pile of "nonsense" see [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15455179/what-is-the-difference-between-form-controls-and-activex-control-in-excel-20) – Rusan Kax Jan 28 '15 at 17:32

2 Answers2

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Update:

First: Let me formally state the question(s): How do is stop MS Excel from renaming the ActiveX button name? Additionally, is there something that needs to be addressed within our office?

Second: My company has a support agreement with Microsoft. Finally wound through our internal IT process to get that help.

According to Microsoft, the problem does stem from the December 2014 ActiveX update. The date of that update was 12/9/2014. The associated KBs are KB2553154 for office 2010 and KB2726958 for office 2013. If all the machines that are sharing documents that contain ActiveX controls are not in the same state regarding the KB updates mentioned above, then this problem will occur. So if you have it and they don't there is a problem. If they have it and you don't there is a problem. We have tested this on a handful of machines and getting everyone in sync regarding the KB seems to resolve it.

Why it didn't "resolve" when I got the updates in January. Evidently I did NOT get all the updates in January. Our IT department pushes updates via Symantec Management Agent, there is a breakdown in that process that they are now investigating.

Third: To person that stating I didn't properly ask a question. While I technically have no qualms with your observation, I agree with JLee "If a person reads this problem description and doesn't know the question, that person's comments are not needed anyway". I additionally find it interesting that someone who is that obsessive about posting etiquette would use undefined acronyms such as "OP" - which I had to look up since I do not use forum's extensively.

Matthew Stockton
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Ask user to copy the sheet containing the code into another workbook, rename the sheet in the original workbook & copy the sheet back into the original workbook... its a temporary workaround...

Kartik
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