KB0223: thinkcell disappears unexpectedly

  1. Home
  2. Resources
  3. Knowledge base
  4. KB0223

Problem

I have thinkcell installed. thinkcell works fine in PowerPoint. After restarting PowerPoint, thinkcell suddenly disappears.

  • thinkcell is not shown in the list of Microsoft Office Add-ins in PowerPoint: File > Options > Add-Ins.
  • thinkcell is not shown in the list of installed programs: Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features

Reinstalling thinkcell fixes the problem only temporarily.

Explanation

If an automatic update of thinkcell is available, the old version is uninstalled. However, the installation of the new version might fail, e.g., due to interference by a security tool.

This problem occurred in the past with Trend Micro security tools. For details on this, please click: Read more

Opening PowerPoint or Excel starts the automatic update service of thinkcell. If an automatic update is available, thinkcell first tries to uninstall the previous version. Trend Micro's engine was not able to close a file handle, which resulted in C:\Program files(x86)\think-cell not being deleted. Executing the new thinkcell installer then raised the following error:

Error 1303. The installer has insufficient privileges to access this directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\think-cell.

This lead to a termination of the update process and deletion of C:\Program Files(x86)\think-cell.

Solution

Trend Micro fixed the issue.

  • A standard update should suffice for Trend Micro Home and Home Office products (e.g., Maximum Security).
  • The various Trend Micro Business products may have different update requirements based on the product and your environment. We received confirmation from a thinkcell customer that their problem was solved by an update of Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security to version 10.0, Service Pack 1, Build 2185. If in doubt, please contact your Trend Micro support directly so that they can provide you with the correct solution for your Trend Micro product and version.

Contact support

If you are experiencing the same problem although Trend Micro is not installed, please contact our support team.

Please send us the thinkcell log files. To do so, on the PowerPoint or Excel ribbon, select Insert > thinkcell > Tools Tools Menu icon > Help > Request Support. A new email will open with the log files automatically attached.

If Request Support works neither in PowerPoint nor in Excel, follow these steps: Read more

  1. Open a new File Explorer window.

  2. In the address field, enter %LOCALAPPDATA%\think-cell. Select Enter.

    Alternatively, you can open the think-cell folder by browsing the directory: Read more

    The full default filepath is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\think-cell. Replace USERNAME with your username.

    If you can't find this folder, it's probably hidden. To show hidden items, in File Explorer, select one of the following:

    • Windows 7: Organize > Folder and search options > View > Show hidden files and folders
    • Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10: View > Show/hide > Hidden Items
    • Windows 11: View > Show > Hidden Items

  3. Send all the files in the think-cell folder that end in log to our support team. These files may include any of the following:

    • EXCEL_log.log
    • POWERPNT_log.log
    • ppttc_log.log
    • setup_think-cell_VERSION_log.log
    • tcasr_log.log
    • tcindex_log.log
    • tcmail_log.log
    • tcrunxl_log.log
    • tcupdate_log.log

      • Additionally, if thinkcell is active, please send us a screenshot of the About thinkcell dialog. To open the About thinkcell dialog, on the PowerPoint or Excel ribbon, select Insert > thinkcell > Tools Tools Menu icon > Help > About.