Cannot Export to Excel, Word or PowerPoint (A Bug Catcher Window Appears)

Problem

You attempt to use Q to Export to Office and a Bug Catcher window appears.

Background

Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word and PowerPoint) provide a communication channel for third-party applications such as Q.

The Office communication channel can have problems that are separate to the Office application. This means that even whilst Excel or PowerPoint works fine on its own, it has a problem that prevents third-party applications such as Q from talking to it.

Often Q is the first application on your computer that has ever tried to communicate with Office before. It may be the first program to uncover the following problems with Office:

• Office reliability problems. Office may close the communication channel if you try to use the application whilst Q is exporting, or if third-party add-ons try to use the application whilst Q is exporting.
• A corrupted installation of Office. Office registers its communication channel in the Windows registry. Repairing the Office installation may help. This registration may be corrupted for several reasons:
  • Multiple versions of Office are installed. However, only one version can register its communication channel.
  • An Office update was interrupted.
  • A Windows Restore has been performed after a system failure.
  • Software products have been used on the computer that deliberately modify the Windows registry. These are advertised as registry cleaners or Windows optimizers. Microsoft has an article on this topic: Are registry cleaners necessary?
• An Excel plugin is interfering with the export. Try disabling or uninstalling plugins.

Troubleshooting Steps

See Exporting Troubleshooting for more information.