Applies to: All products, releases 7.0.0 and newer

 

 

Add-in Tab Does Not Appear in Excel Due to Group Policy Setting

 

Error:

"product cannot be started because of the following Excel security setting in the registry:

software\policies\microsoft\office\15.0\common\toolbars\excel!noextensibilitycustomizationfromdocument=1"

 

Cause

A Group Policy or Office Customization Tool setting has been applied that prevents Excel add-ins from extending the user interface. The specific setting is “Disable UI extending from documents and templates”.

This policy prevents @RISK from adding its tab to the Excel ribbon.

 

Resolution

The recommended solution is to ask your IT department to remove or change the Group Policy setting that disables UI extensibility in Excel.

 

Temporary Workaround (Registry Edit)

If you have permission to edit the System Registry, you may be able to work around the issue temporarily. Note that this change may be reversed after a Windows reboot or policy refresh.

Steps:

1. Open REGEDIT.

2. Collapse the left-hand panel and click Computer.

3. Press Ctrl+F and search for:
   NoExtensibilityCustomizationFromDocument
   Ensure Values and Match whole string are selected, and Keys and Data are deselected.

4. Click Find Next.

5. If the value is 1, change it to 0.

6. Press F3 to find the next occurrence and repeat the change from 1 to 0.

7. Continue until there are no more matches.

You may encounter entries that already have a value of 0. These can be ignored, but continue searching until all occurrences have been reviewed.

 

Important Notes

The problematic registry value is usually found under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, but this procedure will locate it regardless of its location.

Even if this workaround is successful, the setting may revert after restarting Windows or when Group Policy is reapplied. The permanent fix is for your IT department to remove or modify the policy setting.

 

Related Article:

Group Policy and Office Customization Tool Settings: Technical Reference