Toolbars disappear while using Virtual Desktop Manager

ASP.Confused · External Since: Dec 21, 2006 Posts: 4

The tool bars keep disappearing in Excel 2003 whenever I switch desktops
using the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager PowerToy for XP.

Steps to reproduce the problem:

1. Enable MSVDM, and disable "Shared Desktop".
2. Open Excel.
3. Switch to another virtual desktop.
4. Switch back to the desktop Excel is running on

Lo and behold, all the tool bars are missing!

This is a very annoying problem. Have there been any patches for Excel that
will resolve this issue?

Thanks!

Nick Hodge · External Since: Jul 21, 2004 Posts: 1917

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's not Excel that needs updating,
it's the powertoys which is a sort of learning tool for young developers at
MS. It is clearly marketed as not supported on the download, so if it
doesn't work, unfortunately that's the limit...sorry

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
nick_hodgeTAKETHISOUT.TakeThisOut@zen.co.ukANDTHIS
www.nickhodge.co.uk

"ASP.Confused" <ASPConfused.TakeThisOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7365FA8D-1455-404B-81A8-C1207F1E3F84@microsoft.com...
> The tool bars keep disappearing in Excel 2003 whenever I switch desktops
> using the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager PowerToy for XP.
>
> Steps to reproduce the problem:
>
> 1. Enable MSVDM, and disable "Shared Desktop".
> 2. Open Excel.
> 3. Switch to another virtual desktop.
> 4. Switch back to the desktop Excel is running on
>
> Lo and behold, all the tool bars are missing!
>
> This is a very annoying problem. Have there been any patches for Excel
> that
> will resolve this issue?
>
> Thanks!

ASP.Confused · External Since: Dec 21, 2006 Posts: 4

Bah...that's typical. Someone writes an extremely useful piece of software,
but they won't support it. This really grinds my gears. Microsoft should
release their PowerToys to the open source community, so that we can fix and
improve them.

Thanks for your help.

"Nick Hodge" wrote:

> I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's not Excel that needs updating,
> it's the powertoys which is a sort of learning tool for young developers at
> MS. It is clearly marketed as not supported on the download, so if it
> doesn't work, unfortunately that's the limit...sorry
>
> --
> HTH
> Nick Hodge
> Microsoft MVP - Excel
> Southampton, England
> nick_hodgeTAKETHISOUT.DeleteThis@zen.co.ukANDTHIS
> www.nickhodge.co.uk
>
>
> "ASP.Confused" <ASPConfused.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:7365FA8D-1455-404B-81A8-C1207F1E3F84@microsoft.com...
> > The tool bars keep disappearing in Excel 2003 whenever I switch desktops
> > using the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager PowerToy for XP.
> >
> > Steps to reproduce the problem:
> >
> > 1. Enable MSVDM, and disable "Shared Desktop".
> > 2. Open Excel.
> > 3. Switch to another virtual desktop.
> > 4. Switch back to the desktop Excel is running on
> >
> > Lo and behold, all the tool bars are missing!
> >
> > This is a very annoying problem. Have there been any patches for Excel
> > that
> > will resolve this issue?
> >
> > Thanks!
>
>

andrei · External Since: Mar 23, 2007 Posts: 2

The only good thing about Microsoft VDM is that it is free...
I would suggest competition products instead:
http://www.download.com/sort/3150-2346_4-0-1-3.html

Eddy82 · Joined: Jul 28, 2009 Posts: 1

Update:

I ran into the same problem and it's a shame that that's the case. A workaround if you must be using MSVDM, you can simply minimize excel before switching between each virtual desktop to avoid this issue.

It's not a fix; and it's lame that there isn't one, but... just food for thought.