F2 in UDF cell with XLL not loaded breaks dependency tree?

[Matt Olenich]

1)  If I open XLSX without the XLL and hit F2 in one of the UDF Cells and save the XLSX and close excel. There are many cells using ExcelDNA UDFs.

2) Reopen the XLSX and then add the XLL ... and hit CtlAltF9 ... all cells recalculate except the one I used F2 on in step 1. It does not recalculate - unless I enter the cell and hit Enter.

3) Opening XLL fiirst and THEN the XLSX from step 1 ... no problem all cells recalculate with CtlltF9

Its as if using F2 on a UDF cell when the XLL is not available removes it from the dependency tree.

Can anyone explain or suggest a workaround other than telling users to start XLL first :)

Apologies - new to this group and did my best to search on F2 / Dependency Tree.

Matt

[Govert van Drimmelen]

Hi Matt,

I wonder if Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F9 (ForceFullCalculation) will also recalculate those cells.

It is meant to recalculate even harder.

-Govert

[Matt Olenich]

It does not 🙁

Its the oddest behavior. None of the UDFs are marked as volatile. And the behavior occurs regardless of Calculation mode (Automatic / Partial).

Even using code (a menu option I added) to force a recalculation does not work.

var app = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application)ExcelDnaUtil.Application;

app.ActiveWorkbook.ForceFullCalculation = true;

Any idea of why - if the XLL is opened first, Ctl+Alt+F9 works when I open the xlsx second? That might give me something to go on.

Matt

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From: exce...@googlegroups.com <exce...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Govert van Drimmelen <govert.va...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 3, 2025 6:31 AM
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Subject: [ExcelDna] Re: F2 in UDF cell with XLL not loaded breaks dependency tree?

 

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[Govert van Drimmelen]

A super-reliable way of forcing recalculation (actual cell re-evaluation) is to search-and-replace “=” for “=”.

You might add that to a button or macro for the user to trigger.

 

You might have to compare the two .xlsx files (when saved as #NAME? or not) to understand how they differ from Excel’s perspective.

Perhaps a #NAME? cell is just removed from the calculation tree.

Perhaps Excel re-checks such cases against known names when it loads the .xlsx, but not for open workbooks when you load the .xll.

 

-Govert

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