Why does TDM Importer start up when I open an Excel file in LabVIEW, and how can I stop it?

[steve_morris]

I have a new application using LabVIEW 2012 SP1.  I open an Excel file using the Report Generation toolkit and when I do so, a small TDM Importer window pops up on top of the Excel file.  

How can I prevent this?

[Roohcifer]

Hi Steve,

The TDM Importer pops up because the report generated in LabVIEW is in the TDMS file format.  TDMS is a binary file that requires an importer to make sense of the binary data and translate it into an Excel spreadsheet.  The appearance of the floating toolbar is expected behavior.

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot get rid of the floating toolbar unless you uninstall the add-in, in which case you probably would not be able to open your LabVIEW-generated reports.  However, as of Excel 2007, the toolbar is embedded in the "Add-Ins" tab instead of floating on your spreadsheet.  You can see how the toolbar looks as of Excel 2007 in step 6 of this white paper:  https://www.ni.com/en/support/downloads/tools-network/download.tdm-excel-add-in-for-microsoft-excel....

If there is a way to embed the toolbar in Excel 2003, it would be the exact same way you would embed any other floating customer toolbar in Excel.  In other words, I don't think this has anything to do with the fact that it's NI's add-in.  This is just the way Excel 2003 and earlier treats add-in toolbars.  Someone on these forums may well know a way to embed it (perhaps a macro?), but you may have better luck contacting Microsoft.  I'm not sure whether it's even possible for a user to embed the toolbar.

[Sam_Sharp]

The report generation toolkit is generating a .xlsx file so it has nothing to do with the report being generated.

The fact the TDMS Importer is appearing as a popup is just because Excel didn't know what to do with it. I would think you could drag the toolbar and 'dock' it with the other toolbars.

In any case...it's not a problem with the TDMS importer...any other toolbar would appear in the same way. Suggest you look for Excel help for the version you are using.