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When you add a new .XLA add-on using Excel it only adds it for the current user. Is there a possibility to add it for all the users of the computer even with editing registry?

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Excel normally loads addins based on per user example below:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Options] "OPEN"="c:\someapp\exceladdin.xla" "OPEN1"="c:\someapp1\exceladdin.xla"

For each excel addin there is an OPENn (where n is a number) e.g. OPEN, OPEN1, OPEN2 etc.

Note that it depends on the current version of Excel:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\Options HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Options

You can build a vb script that would do the trick. Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Check how many OPEN keys you have for each user in the REG (users may already have an xla loading at startup)
  2. Add an OPEN value (REG_SZ) with the path to the xla file

Note that some Excel addins use the following registry:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins
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    does that imply that if you don't have an OPEN but do have, say, an OPEN4, that the OPEN4 won't get evaluated?
    – bugmagnet
    Mar 10, 2013 at 15:16
  • The question was about whether it's possible to install an addin for all users. Would the advice here work if we replaced HKEY_CURRENT_USER with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE? Also, can you please answer the boost's question?
    – Septagram
    Mar 14, 2016 at 3:26
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    @bugmagnet On Excel 2007 (!), I made an OPEN99 in HKCU\...\12.0\...\Options. When I started Excel, it did not load that add-in. However, it did rename my OPEN99 to OPEN3 (which happened to be the next available on my system). I exited and restarted Excel, and my add-in loaded fine! OPEN128 also worked :) .
    – cxw
    Feb 25, 2017 at 3:29
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You can import ntuser.dat file from c:\users\default and name it something. Then modify that key HKEY_USERS\SOMETHING\software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\Options and make the add-in(s) start for any new user of the machine.

This trick works well for a lab admin who is refreshing the desktop after each student logs off.

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