Compile error in hidden module

You receive a “Compile error in hidden module”

error message when you start Word or Excel

Solution:

Have a look for automatically loaded documents.
(inside the Office-Folder it’s .\Startup for Word and .\XlStart for Excel)

Have a look at the VBA-Editor of any app that’s causing the error (Press Alt + F11). There, have a look at the project-explorer (Ctrl + R).
Check all projects that are listed there, whether some have a module with an AutoExceNew-Sub. If there is a project you can’t open because of a password-protection, you’re likely to have found the problem.

Check out, what it is, correct it or just remove the file.

Answer:  I played around with it some more and the solution is: 1) Exit out of Excel/VBA editor  2) search for  PDFMaker.xla on your local drive including subfolders, AND before you “start” the search indicate that you want to also search hidden files (in XP notably).  The files are hidden.  3)  In my case there were 4 copies of pdfmaker.xla strewn about the place and I deleted them all and Excel works fine

To remove these files yourself this, follow these steps.

1. Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.

2. In the Search for file or folders named box, type pdfmaker.dot pdfmaker.xla.

3. In the Look In box, click the disk drive where Windows is installed, such as C:, and then click Search Now.

   The Pdfmaker.dot file is located in one of the following folders:

   • C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Startup (Word 2000)

   • C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Startup (Word 2002)

   • C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\Startup

The Pdfmaker.xla file in located in one of the following folders:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Xlstart (Excel 2000)

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Xlstart (Excel 2002)

• C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\Xlstart

1. In the Search Results window, right-click the file for each file that is found, and then click Cut.

2. On your desktop, right-click the My Documents folder, and then click Paste.