The Task Pane and BI Tools have become two of the most leading features of Sage Intelligence. Now imagine the feeling of opening your reports, only to find that they are not there! In today’s tip we show what to do if your Task Pane goes missing.
Although we design our software to be robust, there are a few circumstances under which this can occur. In this tip we will look at the Task Pane in the Report Designer, list the reasons why it may not appear and see what you can do to get it back. We hope that you’ll never have to do this, but we suggest that you keep this tip in a familiar place just in case.
The Problem
The Task Pane may not appear for the following reasons:
1. It has simply been closed. Try to show it again by selecting the BI Tools tab and clicking Show Task Pane.
2.Intelligence has been installed as a user with higher privileges, for example an Administrator, and the software is being opened by another user (with lower privileges).
3.Excel has forcefully stayed opened during the installation of Intelligence.
4.Excel has not been launched and or configured before the installation of Intelligence. If more than one version of Excel is installed then each one would need to be launched and configured prior to installation. In other words, all versions of Excel need to be able to open cleanly without any conflicts or popups before Intelligence is installed.
Points 2, 3 and 4 above can block Sage Intelligence Add-Ins from being registered due to their dependency on Excel.
The Resolution
1.Login to windows as the user with the issue.
2.Ensure that file extensions in Windows are visible.
a.Open the Folder Options dialogue. To do this open the Control Panel, then select Appearance and Personalization and then Folder Options.
b.Select the View tab and make sure that the option Hide extensions for known file types is unchecked.
3.Make sure that there are no ghost processes of Excel in the Task Manager.
a.Open the Task Manager. You can do this by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard.
b.Select the Processes tab and end all processes titled EXCEL.EXE.
4.Open Excel making sure that there are no conflicts or popups.
5.Open the Add-Ins menu by going File, Options, and then Add-Ins.
6.If the Report Designer Add-in is listed under Inactive Application Add-ins then you need to enable it.
a.Select Excel Add-ins from the Manage drop down at the bottom of the window and click Go.
b.Select Report Designer Add-in in the Add-Ins dialogue and click OK.
c.Skip to step 8
7.If the Report Designer Add-in is not listed in the Add-Ins window then you need to register it.
a.Select Excel Add-ins from the Manage drop down at the bottom of the window and click Go.
b.From the Add-Ins dialogue click Browse.
c.If you are on a 32 bit system then navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\BIExcelFunctions1.1\32bit.
If you are on a 64 bit system then navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\BIExcelFunctions1.1. Open the 32 bit folder if you are using 32 bit Excel or the 64 bit folder if you are using 64 bit Excel.
d.Select the BI.ExcelFunctions1.1.xll file and click OK.
e.The Report Designer Add-in will show in the Add-Ins dialogue. Make sure it is checked and click OK.
The Task Pane will now be registered.
8.Save the workbook to a familiar location like your Desktop, close it and reopen it.
9.Click Show Task Pane on the BI Tools menu. The Task Pane should open.
If the Task Pane still doesn’t show then we recommend contacting Sage Support. There may be some specific configuration issues with your system and they will be able to take a closer look.
Stay tuned for our next tip where we will look at BI Tools, explain the reasons why it may not appear and what steps you can take to resolve it.
