FinAccrual

The add-in pane is slow to open, blank, or shows an error

The FinAccrual pane runs inside a small embedded browser that Excel manages. On a healthy setup it opens in a few seconds. When it takes much longer, stays blank, or shows a “can’t load the add-in” message, the cause is almost always in that embedded browser or the computer’s network settings — not your data, which is safe throughout. The steps below fix the vast majority of cases, fastest first. These are standard Microsoft-recommended remedies that apply to all Office add-ins.

1. Fully restart Excel

1. Close every Office window — not just Excel. Word, OneNote, Outlook, and PowerPoint share the same embedded browser, and one open app keeps the old (possibly stuck) state alive.
2. Reopen Excel and open the FinAccrual pane again.

The very first open after a restart can take a few extra seconds while Excel rebuilds its cache — that’s normal.

2. Check your connection

In any web browser, open app.finaccrual.com. If that page loads, FinAccrual’s servers are reachable from your computer and the issue is local to Excel — continue below. If it doesn’t load, the problem is your internet connection, VPN, or a firewall — resolve that first.

3. Clear the Office add-in cache (Microsoft’s standard remedy)

Microsoft’s documented fix for misbehaving add-in panes. Two ways:

• If the pane loads at all: click the … menu in the pane’s top-right corner and choose Clear Web Cache, then reopen the pane.
• If the pane won’t load (Windows):
  1. Close all Office apps (step 1 above).
  2. Press Windows key + R, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef and press Enter.
  3. Delete the contents of that folder. (It’s a cache — Office rebuilds it automatically; nothing of yours is stored there permanently.)
  4. Reopen Excel. You’ll be asked to sign in to FinAccrual once again — expected after a cache clear.
• Mac: quit all Office apps, then delete the folder ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2/Data/Caches and reopen Excel.

4. Slow every time? Check Windows proxy auto-detect

If the pane reliably takes 30–60 seconds and then works, Windows may be spending that time searching your network for a proxy server that doesn’t exist. Some home routers make this search hang for a full minute — and it delays every Office add-in, not just FinAccrual.

1. Open Settings → Network & Internet → Proxy.
2. If “Automatically detect settings” is On — and you are on a home network — turn it Off.
3. Restart Excel (step 1) and try again.

5. Still stuck? Try Excel on the web

Open excel.new in Chrome or Edge, then add FinAccrual from Home → Add-ins. Excel on the web uses your regular browser instead of the embedded one, so if FinAccrual runs fine there, you’ve confirmed your account and data are healthy and the issue is the desktop Excel installation — a full Office repair (Windows Settings → Apps → Microsoft 365 → Modify → Online Repair) usually resolves that.

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