Home / Statistical Tools / Settings / Starting Quantum XL with Excel

Starting Quantum XL with Excel¶

Quantum XL is a COM add-in, and the installer sets it to load every time Excel starts. There is nothing to switch on after installing: open Excel and the QXL Stat Tools, QXL DOE New and QXL Monte Carlo New tabs are on the ribbon.

This page is for when they are not.

What the installer registers¶


Add-in identity	QuantumXL.Connect
Name Excel shows	Quantum XL v18
Description Excel shows	Quantum XL Add-In
Where the setting lives	Excel's own add-in list, under COM Add-ins

A 32-bit Excel and a 64-bit Excel get different registrations, and the installer picks the one that matches the Excel it finds. That is why an add-in installed for one and then run under the other does not appear.

Turning it on and off from Excel¶

File > Options > Add-ins. At the bottom, set Manage: to COM Add-ins and press Go.

Quantum XL v18 ticked: the add-in loads with Excel.
Quantum XL v18 cleared: it does not, and the three ribbon tabs are gone.

Tick it again and the tabs come back, without reinstalling and without restarting Excel.

Look under COM Add-ins, not Excel Add-ins

The Manage: list offers Excel Add-ins as well, which is where .xla and .xlam files live. Quantum XL v18 is not one of those and will never appear in that list. Earlier versions of Quantum XL did install an .xla file and were switched on from there; v18 does not, so any instruction that tells you to browse for a Quantum XL .xla file is describing a previous version.

When the tabs disappear on their own¶

Excel switches a COM add-in off by itself after a crash. If Excel closed unexpectedly while Quantum XL was loaded, Excel can decide the add-in was responsible and clear its box. The tabs are then gone on the next start and nothing tells you why.

The fix is to tick the box again in the COM Add-ins dialog. It is not a reinstall and it is not a licensing problem.

Excel keeps a per-user setting and a per-machine setting, and the per-user one wins. So an add-in that is switched on for the machine can still be switched off for you, which is what makes this look inconsistent between two people on the same PC.

If the box is not in the list at all¶

Then the add-in is not registered on this machine, which is an installation problem rather than a setting. Reinstall Quantum XL, and install for the same bit width as the Excel you use.

The About box, and one thing it can do¶

Any of the three tabs > About. It shows the version and the licence.

It can also return the licence, and doing so disables the add-in for this session: the ribbon tabs disappear immediately, because there is no longer a licence to run under. Restart Excel after re-licensing.

What is not here any more¶

Earlier versions of Quantum XL had a Unified Menus setting, which decided whether several SigmaZone products shared one menu on Excel's menu bar or appeared as separate menus. v18 has no such setting. It puts its commands on ribbon tabs, Excel has had no menu bar since Excel 2007, and the About box carries licensing only.