Excel 2010 settings file

Teunis
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Excel 2010 settings file

Post by Teunis »

I am changing from a Win 7 32HP laptop to a Win7 64HP laptop and need my Excel 2010 Pro settings. In the "old" days there was an Excelnn.xlb file, where nn was Excel's version. E.g. Word (still) uses Normal.dotm. But where are the Excel 2010 settings kept?

Regards, Teunis

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HansV
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by HansV »

Your Quick Access Toolbar settings are stored in

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\Excel.qat

Legacy toolbar settings are stored in

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\Excel14.xlb

Personal macros are stored in

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLStart\Personal.xlsb

Remember, AppData is a hidden folder so you need to display hidden files and folders in order to see it.

Most options, however, are stored in the registry, in

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Excel
Best wishes,
Hans

Teunis
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by Teunis »

So, would it be the easiest, apart from copying the .xlb and .qat files, to copy that key of the register (after making a back-up, just in case)?

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HansV
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by HansV »

Best wishes,
Hans

Teunis
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by Teunis »

Thanks Hans,
I was a bit reluctant to use WET, because of the change from "Program Files" to "Program Files (x86)", which I assumed would not be automatic - it was not automatic! So it needs still quite a bit tidying up.
Regards, Teunis

PhoebeAnn
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by PhoebeAnn »

Is it possible to retrieve these settings from a windows.old file generated during a re-install of Windows 7?

Teunis
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by Teunis »

I really don't know, but this kb may point the way:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932912" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards, Teunis

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HansV
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by HansV »

Welcome to Eileen's Lounge!

As you can see from the article that Teunis referred to, it is possible to copy files such as Excel.qat and Personal.xlsb from the old profile to the new one. (Take care that Excel isn't running at the time!)
They should take effect immediately after copying them.
Retrieving preferences from the Windows Registry is virtually impossible, I fear.
Best wishes,
Hans

PhoebeAnn
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by PhoebeAnn »

Thanks, folks. The files themselves were no problem, because I maintain a local "cloud" for almost all user files, and I am working on eliminating the "almost". It was the files' associated settings, application defaults, and especially histories, etc., that I was hoping to restore. None of the files mentioned above (e.g., .xlb, .xlsb, and .qat) was in my windows.old folder.

Nor, for that matter, are they in my current (working) profile. Everything appears to be in the Registry at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Excel.

Note to self: Next time, back up the Registry also.

BTW, the reason for this rebuild was apparently confusion introduced when I installed one tool (Photo Editor, now replaced in Office 2010 by the much less useful Photo Manager) from an Office 2007 install disk in January. Everything worked fine until Microsoft Update decided to update Office 2007. At some point, such updates began to fail, and a cascade of other installer failures ensued. This blocked the Installer from doing anything useful, including uninstalling Office 2007, which didn't exist in the list of installed programs in Control Panel. Even the excellent Revo Uninstaller Pro threw up its hands in disgust. Manually uninstalling it is a well-documented nightmare, so it was in fact easier and probably faster to rebuild the entire OS. If the Installer hadn't been integrated into Windows 7, it might have been possible to reinstall the Installer, but that is no longer possible. Part of this confusion may have been due to the fact that there ws only one Office folder, so for this install I explicitly named the Office folder "Office 2010". I suspect that if I were to repeat the Photo Editor exercise and name its folder "Office 2007" some of these problems would not occur, but I'm in no hurry to find out.

Finally, even in this squeaky-clean new Office 2010 installation, there are several Registry CLSID keys with "Microsoft Office 2007 Access Database Engine Briefcase Reconciler" in their data fields. I have no idea what this is or if it's intended to be there or sloppy programming, but be aware of it.

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HansV
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Re: Excel 2010 settings file

Post by HansV »

Files such as Personal.xlsb and Excel.qat initially don't exist. They are only created by Excel when needed. For example, Personal.xlsb is created when you record a macro to your personal macro workbook for the first time, and Excel.qat is created the first time you customize the Quick Access Toolbar.

It is quite possible that the developers didn't update the names of some Office 2007 components for Office 2010.
Best wishes,
Hans