Known Issues

After we upgraded, some older documents won't open

(legacy documents created from older templates)

You need to either:

1. Install the Legacy Compatibility Installer, or...
2. Migrate your data from your legacy working document to your new template

This is usually caused by slow memory.

Simply close, then re-open the file.

Some features are disabled in a protected worksheet.

Learn more

Most Systems2win templates are NOT protected.

If protected, there is no password, so simply unprotect.

As of March 2009, we brought this to Microsoft's attention, and they have acknowledged it as a bug, but have not yet announced when it will be fixed, so we changed all of our templates to start with 100% zoom — to eliminate this bug.

View > Zoom > 100%.
Then View > Zoom > to the percent that you want.
The shapes will now be sized correctly.

Training video: Issue: Zoom bug (1 min video)

Because Microsoft has no intention of fixing this bug, we revised most Systems2win templates to start with 100% zoom. And then you can manually change to any zoom that best fits your screen.

If you forget to use the special button in the Systems2win menu to 'Protect Sheet',
then when you unprotect then re-protect a sheet, it unchecks the checkbox to 'Edit Objects'.

(And then you can not select or edit any shapes, pictures, charts, or other objects)

Version 14 and higher has special buttons in the Systems2win menu to 'Protect Sheet' and 'Unprotect Sheet'.

These buttons overcome Microsoft bugs.

Or (old version):
When you unprotect, then re-protect a sheet, you must manually select the checkbox to 'Edit Objects'.

(which is at the bottom of the list, so you need to scroll down)

Even if you correctly use the Systems2win
Copy Sheet utility...

(instead of Excel's bug-prone normal way of copying sheets)

in a new workbook that you have just created
(or copied)...

when copying sheets between workbooks — Excel can simply crash.

If you close and then re-open Excel after creating a new workbook — this bug is eliminated.

From then on, you never have to worry about it with that workbook. You don't have to do this every time that you
re-open your saved workbook.

Restart Excel to get your Systems2win menu back.

And to avoid this in the future — don't click Exit to get out of Print Preview. Instead, simply click any one of the other tabs in the Ribbon bar (such as the Home tab).

Charts on the Gantt Chart and Standard Work sometimes need to be manually re-aligned.

This is a Microsoft bug that we can't fix programmatically on our end... and is pretty easy for a human being to make the "mental shift" to correlate the correct header with the next column over.

If it really bothers you, on any given Filter worksheet that has already been generated by clicking the Generate Filtered Worksheet button... you can manually change all the chart data ranges to exclude the horizontal thin gold lines.

This will remove the problem for the one Filter worksheet containing known data — but would mess up your ability to create new Filter sheets if you were to do this on your master OEEFilter worksheet.

Some day Microsoft might simply release an update that resolves this bug, and it will magically work like it did in Excel 2003.

If you experience any problems not itemized here — then updating to the latest Release Service Pack will often resolve the problem.

The user will usually just notice that "the charts don't work".

Excel > File > Excel Options button > Resources > Check for Updates

When copying an entire cell between worksheets, images sometimes don't paste correctly.

They paste in a very collapsed format — so that they are invisible unless you use the Select Objects Arrow to highlight them.

On August 12, 2010, and again in March 2012, we released bug fixes for our Work Instructions template, and with version 16, we introduced the ability to adjust the number of milliseconds of delay when pasting images, by manually adding the following to your Systems2win.ini file:

ImagePasteDelay=1000
(or any other number of milliseconds. 1000 milliseconds = 1 second)

If you run into this bug anywhere else, use the Select Objects Arrow to highlight the collapsed images, and then stretch them back to normal size.

Compatibility Checker dialog comes
up with warning that there will be
"Significant Loss of Functionality"
if you save your file in .xls Excel 97-2003 compatibility format.

This affects only legacy templates before version 12, when all macros were eliminated from Systems2win templates.

Most of these warnings are simply wrong.

It itemizes the functionality that might be lost, so you can test it for yourself, but you will find that there is usually no loss of functionality.

Many Systems2win customers routinely save all of their Excel files in .xls 97-2003 compatibility format — and everything works just fine.

See tips for choosing file formats

After selecting a macro button shape, you need to select some other non-button object in order to de-select the button.

Note: All macro buttons have been eliminated as of Systems2win version 12.

Error: "There are not enough system resources to display completely"

This bug only affects files saved in .xlsm or .xlsb format. The same file will work just fine when saved in .xls or .xlsx format.

This only affects legacy templates prior to version 12, when Systems2win eliminated macros from all templates.

Save your files in Excel 97-2003 compatible .xls format

(because this bug often affects only .xlsm and .xlsb files)
Learn more

Microsoft has attempted to troubleshoot this rarely surfacing bug, and has only been able to conclude that "there must be some hardware driver somewhere that gets stuck in a loop somewhere".

If your computer is one of the few that experiences this problem, their recommendation is to simply save your files in .xls format.

ProtectedView

When you double-click to open your downloaded file,
if you see this 'Protected View' message bar...

and you click the button to Enable Editing...

If your workbook closes, and you see a dialog saying either:

"You are experiencing the Microsoft Protected View bug",

or (in earlier versions)...
"This Systems2win template appears to have been intentionally altered"...

then you are experiencing a known Microsoft bug.

Or... your workbook might not close, and you see a dialog saying:

"Method wait of object... failed."

More details:

This Microsoft "protection feature" appears when attempting to open a Microsoft Office file
(an Excel, Word, or PowerPoint file...) that has been downloaded from:

1. an email attachment, or
2. the Internet

   (and because the Systems2win portal uses a browser user interface, it is treated as "the Internet",
   even though your master templates are stored on your own local computer or network)

and you saved that file to a folder not marked as a Trusted Location.

Solutions:

Solution 1) Upgrade.

As of August, 2015, the Systems2win portal pages now include
Microsoft's 'Mark of the Web', which (usually) eliminates the Protected View message from appearing when you open your templates from your Systems2win portal.

If your Annual Maintenance cycle is not coming up soon, then you don't have to wait.
You can use any text editor (such as Notepad) to edit the html pages found in the 'nav' folder of your S2winPortal folder (where your master templates are stored).

Simply replace this line of code near the top of each html page:

<!-- saved from url=(0014)about:internet -->

with this one:

<!-- saved from url=(0016)http://localhost -->

And also in August, we added some code to greatly reduce the probability of Protected View crashing Excel. Download latest free update.

Solution 2) Simply reopen the file.

Simply double-click the same file (that you already downloaded).

It will (usually) now work.
Microsoft recently added a new "feature" that sometimes crashes Excel,
so be sure to close all open documents first.

Do not re-download it from your portal,

(because that would overwrite the original file, and start all over)

just double-click the same file that you already downloaded.

(perhaps saved in your browser's download folder?)

Solution 3) Save your working documents in a Trusted Location. This is often the best option.

When you get in the habit of saving your files in a Trusted Location,
you not only eliminate the Protected View dialogs,
you also eliminate Microsoft's other (non-value-add) Security Warnings.

Solution 4) Unblock the file (leaving Protected View enabled for other files).

In Windows Explorer or My Computer,
right-click the file > Properties > click the button to Unblock

Solution 5) Disable Protected View.

Excel > File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings button > Protected View

Uncheck the first 3 checkboxes.

Slow to select a large number of columns

On a worksheet that is protected, with the option box checked to allow the user to insert hyperlinks...

when you select (and then try to do something with) a large number of columns...

it could take several minutes before Excel 2010 allowed you to continue.

There is only a small time delay when selecting rows. Long delays are only experienced when selecting a large number of columns.

This bug happens only in Excel 2010 and higher, and only under the circumstances defined above.

This bug does not exist in:

• all lower versions of Excel
• worksheets that are unprotected
• worksheets protected with the Insert Links option box unchecked

In January 2012, the Microsoft development team closed this bug as a "won't fix" — with the possibility of addressing it again in the future.

If using a Systems2win legacy template version 11 or lower...
here are a few suggestions for how to deal with this Microsoft bug that occurs only in Excel 2010 and higher:

1. Upgrade your Systems2win templates.
   In October 2014, (version 12), we gave up hope that Microsoft will ever fix this bug,
   and changed protection settings so that any protected sheet requires the user to unprotect the sheet to be able to Insert Hyperlinks.

   In January 2012, we reduced or eliminated this bug in most templates.
   You might need to transcribe your data from your old working document to a copy of the new template.

2. Unprotect the worksheet,
   then reprotect it again after working with a large selection of rows or columns.

   (If a Systems2win template is protected, it is usually without a password — so you can simply unprotect it. The only exceptions are the VSM-PowerTool and and VSM-Supply Chain Map.)

3. Change the worksheet protection.
   Unprotect your worksheet, then reprotect it, unchecking the box for Insert Hyperlinks.
   And then if and when you need to insert a hyperlink...
   unprotect your worksheet to insert the hyperlink, and then reprotect the sheet (so that you don't accidentally mess up formulas as you work)
4. Rather than selecting entire columns, select just the cells you need.

   Example: If you want to hide or unhide some columns, select just the cells in one row — spanning the columns that you want to hide or unhide. And then Home tab > Format > Hide & Unhide > Unhide columns.

5. Simply wait.
   You can work on something in another application while waiting for Excel to unfreeze.
6. Ctrl+Alt+Delete > Start Task Manager > then End Task Excel
   (You will lose any unsaved changes)
7. Send feedback to Microsoft — using your own words
   and your own case history to reinforce our request to fix this bug — being sure to reference Case # REG:111101449093725 first submitted by Systems2win in October of 2011.

International Dates

if a date is entered in the Formula Bar,
Excel can freeze

Compile error in hidden module: MRibbon

when you have Chinese, Korean, or Japanese regional locale selected.

Quick fix:
Control Panel > Region > Administrative tab > Change System Locale button
select English (United States)

or any language that works correctly (which is most non-Eastern)

Quick fix:
Control Panel > Region > Formats tab >
Additional Settings button > Decimal Symbol
must be a period, not a comma

Permanent fix: Install the free update

In international versions of Excel,
pop-up help displays fewer words than the English version
(thereby cutting off some longer help text)

View the entire text:
Data > Data Validation > Input Message tab

Tip: From here, you can also copy and paste to Google Translate.

Unprotect the sheet.

When you try to open a Word template through the Systems2win menu in Microsoft Excel, you get:

Error: Cannot activate S2W_OpenTemplate2

Open Word, then try again
(using Excel > Systems2win menu > Systems2win Templates)

Any browser:

The Systems2win Portal home page opens in a text or Word format - rather than opening in your chosen default browser.

Someone changed your default program settings.
(and made a poor choice)

Control Panel > Default Programs > Associate File Type or Protocol with a Program > .htm > choose your browser

Any browser:

If your browser does not give you the option to open a file immediately after downloading it...

Someone must have changed your browser default settings,

so you need to set up your browser to easily download files.

Google Chrome:

When following a link from a Microsoft Office document (such as Excel, Word, or PowerPoint...)

if the link is to a bookmark within a page (rather than the top of the page)

then Google Chrome has a bug that only takes you to the top of the page.

Solution:

In the browser address bar, click 'Enter' again.

It will now take you to the bookmark within the page.

Internet Explorer:

When following a link from a Microsoft Office document (such as Excel, Word, or PowerPoint...)

if the link is to a bookmark within a page (rather than the top of the page)

then Internet Explorer has a bug that will generate a 404 error.

Solution:

See our 404 error page

for a full description
of the Internet Explorer "bookmark bug",

and solutions for how to quickly get around it,

and how to permanently eliminate it.

Or use a different browser.
Internet Explorer is the only browser that has this bug.

Internet Explorer:

Warning: This program is not commonly downloaded and could harm your computer.

(or some similar warning that this program might be dangerous...)

and then there is no obvious way to override — to install a trusted installation file despite Microsoft's dire warning.

Solution:

The file is safe to download. 

The message is an indication that the file is not in the list of commonly downloaded programs. 

Per Microsoft’s site:

“It doesn't necessarily mean the website is fraudulent or that the program is malware, but you probably shouldn't download or install the program unless you trust the website and the publisher.”

This is Microsoft's extremely overprotective way to try to get software developers to pay extra money to sign their code.

Microsoft calls it "SmartScreen Filter" or Phishing Filter.

How to turn it off:

Internet Explorer > Tools > SmartScreen Filter > Turn Off SmartScreen Filter