What Does “Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An OLE Action” Mean?

One of the best features of the MS Office suite is that you can use all its applications together to edit files. Therefore, you can open a file in MS Word and use its contents in MS PowerPoint and MS Excel too.

However, many issues might crop up if you try to use them in conjunction. For example, many users have faced a common problem: the “Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An OLE Action in MS Excel” pop-up. Seeing this message on the screen can be very frustrating for users who are in the middle of doing a project on a deadline.

Therefore, if you are facing this issue and want to solve it, read this guide till the end.

What Does “Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An OLE Action” Mean?

Before you solve this issue, you need to understand what it means and why it’s taking place.

What Is OLE?

An OLE action in MS Excel stands for Object Linking and Embedding. This allows MS Office to integrate itself with other applications. For example, this happens when you edit a file across various Microsoft applications.

For example, you can attach an MS Word file or an MS PowerPoint file in an Excel sheet. When you do so, the OLE action Excel comes into play to make it happen. It’s also used if you learn how to create a team in Microsoft Teams.

Why Does This Issue Occur?

Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An OLE Action loop issue happens when Excel cannot link the file between the applications. However, some of the primary causes of this issue are:

• You might have disabled the “Ignore Other Applications That Use DDE,” or it was disabled by default.
• Many add-ins have been added to Excel, causing its processes to overload and get corrupted.
• You might have installed a corrupted MS Office Suite, or it might have gotten corrupted during installation.
• There might be a rare chance that the Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker add-in conflicts with MS Excel.
• If you try to use the “Send as Attachment” option in MS Excel.

How To Fix “Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An Ole Action” Issue?

Since you are facing this issue, follow the three guides below to fix this issue.

1. Enable “Ignore Other Applications That Use DDE”

There is an option in Microsoft Excel that you can use to activate the process called “Ignore Other Applications That Use DDE.” You can fix the main issue at hand by activating this feature. To do so, you need to follow the steps I have explained below:

1. Open Microsoft Excel.
2. Then, open an Excel Sheet.
3. Open the File option.
4. Here, click on Options.
5. When the dialog box for Excel Options appears, Click on the Advanced tab.
6. Scroll down here to find the General options.
7. Here, click on the Ignore Other Applications That Use DDE option to enable it.
8. Restart MS Excel.

2. Disable Add-Ins

To fix this issue, you can try to disable all add-ins enabled in MS Excel. To do so, follow these steps in order:

1. Open MS Excel.
2. Then, open an Excel Sheet.
3. Go to and open the File menu.
4. Here, click on Options.
5. Find an option called Add-Ins and click on it.
6. Now, click on Excel Add-Ins.
7. Here, click on the Go option.
8. Here, you will find the list of all the enabled Add-Ins. Click to uncheck all the options.
9. When you are done, click on OK.
10. Restart MS Excel to see if the problem persists or not.

3. Attach The Excel Workbook

This error will commonly pop up when you try to use the “Send Using Email” option in MS Excel. If this is the case, it means MS Excel has lost access to the Excel workbook.

Therefore, to Attach Excel Workbook to resolve this issue, you need to:

1. Open My Computer.
2. Search for “Excel Workbook”.
3. After you find it in its directory, copy it.
4. Open any web browser.
5. Then, open your email account (preferably MS Outlook).
6. Try composing a mail now.
7. Here, attach the copied Excel Workbook file.
8. Send it to the person you want.

Dong completely overrides the need to use the send using Email option through MS Excel. Therefore, all chances of encountering the “Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An Ole Action” get negated.

4. Disable MS Excel Compatibility Mode

Sometimes. It’s the use of third-party applications that causes this issue to take place.

However, many users reported that this increases if MS Excel is launched in Compatibility Mode. Therefore, you need to disable Compatibility Mode and run MS Excel normally. To do so, you need to:

1. Right-click on the MS Excel icon on your desktop screen.
2. Click on the Properties option.
3. Here, find the option called Compatibility Mode.
4. Click on the option “Run this program in Compatibility Mode” to uncheck and disable the option.
5. Close all the options.
6. Finally, restart MS Excel.

5. Use The MS Excel Repair Tool

If none of the four abovementioned methods are working, then MS Excel may have encountered a glitch. Therefore, the only option now is to repair MS Excel manually.

To do so, you need to search for the MS Excel Repair Tool from Google. Then, download and install the .exe file available from the official website of Microsoft.

After the application is installed, you need to open it. Then follow the instructions inside and use them to repair MS Excel automatically. If this issue is still not solved, you can uninstall and reinstall MS Excel. In addition, you can try to learn how to cancel Microsoft subscription and let Microsoft know its shortcomings. 

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):

Frequently asked questions related to the Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An OLE Action issue are:

Conclusion

There are many primary ways to fix the “Microsoft Excel Is Waiting For Another Application To Complete An OLE Action in MS Excel” issue.

First, you can try enabling the process called Ignore Other Applications that Use DDE. Next, you can disable all active add-ins in MS Excel. Compatibility Mode for MS Excel. Finally, you can use the MS Excel Repair Tool.

I hope my methods listed here have helped you solve this issue. If it did, please leave a comment below and read other posts here at Techrab!

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