SolverStudio runs as an Excel add-in file for Excel 2007-2013. (The tools we use mean that Excel 2003 is not supported.) The download includes all the required components, including IronPython, PuLP, standard Python (CPython), the GNU Linear Programming Kit (GLPK), and AMPL and GAMs support files. SolverStudio has been beta tested under Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 10 using Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2019. Note that Excel 2013 requires releases 0.06.00.00 and later to work correctly.

1. How To Use Solver In Excel 2016
2. Download Solver For Excel Mac 2011 How Do You View A Range
3. Download Solver For Excel Mac 2011
4. Download Solver For Excel Mac 2011 Conditional Formatting
5. Excel Solver Not Working 2016

Like many add-ins, SolverStudio will not work with some versions of Office 365 installed from the Windows Store; see this OpenSolver page for more info.

If you download this software, please leave a comment describing your experience in installing and running it. We’d love to know if it worked properly on your computer, or if there are bugs we need to fix.

To install SolverStudio:

A/ Install as an end user, not as an Administrator The standard Microsoft installer used by SolverStudio and other Excel add-ins installs for the current user only (i.e. into the current “profile”); it will not make SolverStudio available for other users and typically does not need Administrator privileges. Hence, SolverStudio should always be installed while logged on using your normal account. (See below for a more complicated all-users installation process most users will not need.) Depending on your machine, running SolverStudio’s “setup.exe” may try to install the .NET 4 and the Office support files if you do not already have these files already installed; this will probably require Administrator priviliges. You should not need administrator privileges to install SolverStudio itself if you already have these required system files. If you need to logon (or “Run As”) as an Administrator to complete the installation, be sure to run setup.exe again using your standard non-admin logon after completing the Administrator install.

B/ Uninstall Any Earlier Version To be safe, uninstall any earlier version of SolverStudio using the Control Panel’s Add/Remove programs, the Uninstall button under SolverStudio’s About menu, or the SolverStudio/SolverStudio/Uninstaller.exe file. (The latter two uninstall options now handle more cases than the Control Panel, including advanced all-user installations.)

C/ Download SolverStudio Zip File.
We recommend you download our latest release (announced on 20150813, and updated on 20150903 to include new MOSEK examples and again on 20151117 to fix an IronPython bug and again on 20160408 to fix issues with the latest Julia/JuMP release and again on 20160520 with CMPL, NEOS & GMPL improvements).

1. Solver For Excel 2011 free download - Microsoft Office 2011, Premium Solver Platform for Excel, Excel Sudoku Solver, and many more programs.
2. You probably need Office for Mac 2011 and have installed the Service Pack 1 update. Which is available HERE. After you install Service Pack 1, follow these steps to start Solver: Start Excel. Click Tools, and then select Add-Ins. Click to select the check box for Solver.Xlam.

SolverStudio_00_09_03_00 20160520.zip (64238 downloads) 23 MB

If you hit download problems, an earlier version is available to be downloaded in smaller parts.

Now on the Excel file try using Solver and see if you still get the same behavior. If the above steps didn’t help you re-solve the issue, I’ll suggest you apply the latest update for your Office Mac 2011. To update Office 2011: Open any Office application such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. On the top menu, go to Help Check for Updates. Download Solver Add In; Excel 2011 Mac Solver Add In Download Torrent; Mac OSX: /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins. The Excel Solver is a product developed by Frontline Systems for Microsoft. OpenSolver has no affiliation with, nor is recommended by, Microsoft or Frontline Systems.

An older version, SolverStudio 0.5.4 (2013.06.25) is also available from our downloads archive, and does not require the full .Net 4 needed by later versions (as detailed below).

D/ Unblock Zip File. Right click on the downloaded.zip file, choose Properties, and click the Unblock button if there is one; see the image below. (You cannot install from files that have been ‘blocked‘ by Windows; see also here.)

E/ Extract Files. Extract the SolverStudio files from the .zip file to a convenient location; the files in this location are used whenever SolverStudio runs. (You can normally run SolverStudio from any location. In our labs running 64 bit Windows 7 with 32 bit Office 2010, we simply make SolverStudio available on a network drive. However, if you are installing for all users (see below), or you are an administrator setting up the machine for other less-privileged users to install themselves later, then copying the files into either Program Files if you are using 64 bit Office or a 32 bit Windows, or into Program Files (x86) if you are using 32 bit Office on a 64 bit Windows, may be safest as these are fully trusted locations.)

F/ Quit all copies of Excel.

G/ Run Setup.exe. Double click on the Setup.exe file, giving permission to install when requested. (If this fails, try clicking directly on SolverStudio.vsto, which will skip some of the installation steps, but may still work. Also see “Installation Errors” below.) Do not run as Administrator, but while logged in as the final end user, as installation is only for the current user. (If needed, see All-User installation notes below.)

Running Setup.exe will install any support files you need, as follows.

From version 0.6.0 onwards, SolverStudio uses the full .Net Framework 4.0. (Earlier versions used the “.Net Framework v4 Client Profile”, which is already installed on most machines.) SolverStudio also uses “Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools (VSTO) for Office Runtime” which supports Office 2010 and later versions. (This VSTO link should always point at the latest version of this “VSTO 2010” file.) Running Setup.exe should install these automatically (but see below for possible errors).

H/ Launch Excel. The SolverStudio commands should then appear under Excel’s Data tab.

I/ Sept 2018 Excel Update: Turn on “Optimize for Compatibility” The Sept 2018 update to Excel made changes that broke a number of Excel add-ins. These changes may give you a greyed-out SolverStudio editor window, or an editor window showing at a strange location. A workaround is documented at https://www.add-in-express.com/creating-addins-blog/2018/09/24/panes-problems-solved/ :
“A workaround is to choose the Optimize for compatibility option in Display Settings; see the status bar or File | Options | General. Select this option, restart the Office application and it will use the old Windows API.”
Thanks to Eldemar for confirming this works.

Disabled Add-in Problems: If SolverStudio does not show up in Excel, it may be “disabled” by Excel. This can happen if SolverStudio crashes, or something else goes wrong. Use Excel’s File… Options… Add-Ins…. Manage, and check to see if SolverStudio is in the “Disabled Application Add-ins” list. If it is, use COM Addins to enable SolverStudio.

Installation Error “The value of the property ‘type’ cannot be parsed”: Install VSTO Separately and/or use Run as Administrator
If you are behind a firewall or proxy server, or get an error such as “The value of the property ‘type’ cannot be parsed” the following comments from Ted Ralphs might be helpful. Installing SolverStudio from behind a proxy servers can be a bit problematic. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do it and it turned out the problem was that the installer tries to fetch another installer (for Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office (VSTO) Runtime) from the Microsoft Web site that is a pre-requisite. This can sometimes fail without giving any helpful error message. To get around it, we finally figured out that you can just follow these install instructions to download this “Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office (VSTO) Runtime” installer and install those tools separately.

This error can sometimes also be fixed by installing as Administrator. That is, right-click “setup.exe” and choose “Run as Admininstrator”.

There is a good description of a variant of this error at the DataEverywhere VSTO Add-in help pages.

Installation Error “A runtime error occurred during the loading of the COM add-in“: Use Run As Administrator
If the above process for installing Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime does not work, please try running as Adminstrator during the installation. That is, right-click “setup.exe” and choose “Run as Admininstrator”. We have had Excel report (under COM add-ins) that “A runtime error occurred during the loading of the COM Add-in.”; installing as Administrator fixed this.

Installation Error “The following Microsoft Office solution cannot be installed due to a general error“: Try installing parts separately
We have recently (Dec 2016) had reports (report 1, report 2) of “general errors”, eg “The following Microsoft Office solution cannot be installed due to a general error: SolverStudio.vsto. 0x80070002” (or error code 0x8007007E). We suggest you manually instal the full .Net Framework 4.0. and the “Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools (VSTO) for Office Runtime”; you will almost certainly need to be logged in under an Administrator account.

All-user Installation: By default, SolverStudio is installed for the current user only (like all VSTO Office add-ins). Instructions are given under “SolverStudioSolverStudioAdvancedInstallers” on how to install SolverStudio for all users on a machine. (Many thanks to Daniel Frances from the University of Toronto for testing this in his labs.) It is important to copy the SolverStudio files into either Program Files or, if you are running a 32 bit Office on a 64 Windows, into Program Files (x86); putting them into the wrong program files folder will cause SolverStudio to fail.

Example Models: The download includes sample workbooks that show many of the features.

Uninstalling: SolverStudio can be removed by using the Windows Add/Remove Programs (or the equivalent under Vista/Windows 8), or using SolverStudio’s About… Uninstall button. Version 0.6.0 also includes an “Uninstaller.exe” file you can run. To uninstall an All-Users installation, we suggest using “Uninstaller.exe” and which typically needs to be “Run as administrator”. Advanced users may wish to explore the “AdvancedInstallers” for other uninstall options. After uninstalling, you can then delete the files you downloaded.

Upgrading SolverStudio When upgrading from a previous version, please uninstall SolverStudio first, and then install the new version.

We have come across an example where upgrading failed because of a glitch in Microsoft’s VSTO system used by SolverStudio. (Thanks, Ted, for helping us track this down.) When you install SolverStudio, it copies the files (including SolverStudio.dll) into a cache. Sometimes, the files in this cache are left open, and so the VSTO installer used by SolverStudio fails to update the files (without warning you). You then end up running an old copy of SolverStudio.dll, which typically gives errors when solving models etc. To fix this, please (1) restart Windows to close the SolverStudio.dll, (2) uninstall SolverStudio using the Control Panel or SolverStudio’s About… Uninstall button, (3) install SolverStudio again. Note that the location of the cached files is given in SolverStudio’s About box, so you can also try manually deleting this cached DLL (and the other files in the cached folder) to force Windows to update these when you next launch SolverStudio. On my machine the DLL location given in the SolverStudio’s About box is:

System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location:

C:Usersamas008AppDataLocalassemblydl3C5BH1QGV.QTQ4P3CWJ02.81Wc28f32d6689ff424_4f72ce01SolverStudio.DLL

Internet Access: We have been asked about SolverStudio’s internet access requirements.

AMPL on NEOS makes the following IP connection:
NEOS_HOST=”www.neos-server.org”
NEOS_PORT=3332

The AMPL student version installer menu accesses the AMPL site to do a download from http://www.ampl.com/NEW/TABLES/amplcml.zip; this is just a standard connection using Python’s urllib.urlretrieve().

The VSTO framework under which SolverStudio runs may do a check on the code signing certificate; I’m not sure what port this uses, but it has always worked fine in our testing. SolverStudio does not make any other internet connections apart from opening web pages.

SolverStudio has no affiliation with, nor is recommend by, Microsoft, AMPL, GAMS, GNU, or Frontline Systems. All trademark terms are the property of their respective owners.

15-January-2021: We have recently released the beta version of OpenSolver 2.9.4. Free feel to read the release notes for the changes and new features added. Please let us know if they are any issues or problems that you have encountered by commenting on the bottom of the OpenSolver 2.9.4 post.

OpenSolver is updated whenever new features are added or bugs fixed. Please check out the blog page for release details. You can also use the built-in update checker to keep up-to-date with the latest release.

OpenSolver comes in two versions, a simpler “linear” version and an “advanced” (non-linear) version with support for more solvers, including non-linear solvers. Both versions are available for Mac and Windows. On Windows, OpenSolver should work with Excel 2007 and later; we test it on 32 and 64 bit Windows 7/10 in Excel 2010/2013/2016. (Older versions worked with Excel 2003, but we don’t test this any more.) On Mac OS X, it should work using Excel for Mac 2011 with any version of OS X newer than 10.7.

OpenSolver for Mac: OpenSolver currently has limited support for Excel 2016 for Mac. Version 2.8.3 of OpenSolver includes initial support for Excel 2016 for Mac, and supports model creation and modification, as well as solving with the CBC and Gurobi solvers. Make sure your version of Excel 2016 is at least 15.28 for this to work. Unfortunately, the late 2018 release of Excel 16.16.7 has broken OpenSolver; if you can help us debug this, please email us at email hidden; JavaScript is required. However, our user Alexander reported in April 2019 that “OpenSolver works for MacOS HighSierra with the latest Excel update 16.24, but if you upgrade your OS to Mojave it no longer works.” (Thanks, Alexander.)

Windows July 2016 Office Security Update Microsoft updated the security requirements for add-ins in July 2016. You now need to “Unblock” the .zip file before extracting the files; please see the instructions below and this help item.

Available Downloads

OpenSolver Linear: This is the simpler version that solves linear models using the COIN-OR CBC optimization engine, with the option of using Gurobi if you have a license. Most people use this version.

OpenSolver Advanced (Non-Linear): As well as the linear solvers, this version includes various non-linear solvers and support for solving models in the cloud using NEOS; more info is here. Much of this code is still new and experimental, and so may not work for you.

You can see all our downloads, including previous versions, on our Open Solver Source Forge site.

To download and use OpenSolver:

1. Download the OpenSolver Linear zip file (either Mac or Windows, selected automatically depending on the machine you are using to visit this page). You can also try out our experimental Advanced Non-linear OpenSolver for Windows (also available for Mac) for access to non-linear solvers.
2. Right click the downloaded zip file, choose Properties, and click the “Unblock” button or checkbox. If you don’t see this button (or an equivalent checkbox), you can skip this step. (This step is a new requirement following a July 2016 update to Excel.)
   Close the Properties window.
3. Extract the files to a convenient location. (All files and sub-folders, including OpenSolver.xlam, must stay together; please do not move any files or folders out of the unzipped OpenSolver folder.) OpenSolver on Windows may not work if installed to an unmapped directory such as servermyfiles or one that contains unicode characters.
4. Double click on OpenSolver.xlam. There may then be a small wait as Excel checks the digital signature on the OpenSolver code.
5. If asked in an Excel Security Notice, give Excel permissions to enable the OpenSolver macros. You can click Trust all from Publisher if you do not want to be shown the Excel Security Notice again.
6. The OpenSolver commands will then appear under Excel’s Data tab on Windows, or in the Menu Bar on a Mac.
7. If using Excel for Mac 2016, follow the instructions further down the page to set up the solvers
8. OpenSolver relies on open source solvers developed by COIN-OR; please consider donating to COIN-OR.

Signed Code: Note that as of October 2014, the OpenSolver code is signed by the publisher “The University of Auckland”. This makes the code more secure. However, Excel will occasionally need to check the digital signature by contacting servers online, which can take a few seconds.

Support our Solver Community: OpenSolver includes open source solvers developed by COIN-OR. Without these, OpenSolver would not exist. Please support our solver developers by donating to COIN-OR.

Make OpenSolver Installation Permanent: OpenSolver will be available until you quit Excel. If you wish, there are two ways you can make OpenSolver permanently available in Excel. Either, use OpenSolver… About OpenSolver…. and check “Load OpenSolver when Excel starts”, or you can copy the files from the .zip into the Excel add-in directory. This is typically:

Windows XP:
C:Documents and Settings'user name'Application DataMicrosoftAddins

Windows Vista and later (7, 8, 8.1):
C:Users'user name'AppDataRoamingMicrosoftAddins

Mac OSX:
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins

How To Use Solver In Excel 2016

The Excel Solver is a product developed by Frontline Systems for Microsoft. OpenSolver has no affiliation with, nor is recommended by, Microsoft or Frontline Systems. All trademark terms are the property of their respective owners.

Installing Solvers on Excel for Mac 2016

If you are running Excel 2016 on Mac, you need to install the solvers after unzipping OpenSolver. Inside the unzipped folder, go to Solvers/osx you will find a file called “OpenSolver Solvers.pkg”. Open this file and click through the prompt to set up the solvers on your computer (you will need to enter the administrator password to do so). After this you will be able to use OpenSolver as normal.

Download Solver For Excel Mac 2011 How Do You View A Range

Using Gurobi on Excel for Mac 2016

Because of the sandbox, Gurobi is unable to find its license file when we start it from OpenSolver. This can be fixed by copying the license file “gurobi.lic” (which usually is in your home folder) to the following folder:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data

Download Solver For Excel Mac 2011

Alternatively, you can open a terminal and paste the following command to put the license file in the right place (if your license file is in a non-default location you will need to modify this command first):

cp ~/gurobi.lic ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data

Download Solver For Excel Mac 2011 Conditional Formatting

Why do we need an installer for Excel 2016 on Mac?

Excel Solver Not Working 2016

Office for Mac 2016 is sandboxed, meaning that it can only run executables that are located in a set of whitelisted directories on the computer. We need to place the Solvers directory into one of these whitelisted locations so that we can run the solver binaries for OpenSolver. This folder is write-protected and needs admin privilege to modify, so we provide the installer to streamline the setup process.