PowerPivot Options & Diagnostics Dialog Box

The PowerPivot Options & Diagnostics dialog box provides options for creating a trace that that can be used for technical support; for changing the language that is used in menus, dialog boxes, and messages in the PowerPivot window; and for providing feedback that can be used in improving the product. To access this dialog box, in the Excel window, on the PowerPivot tab, in the Options group, click Settings.

Support and Diagnostics Tab

  • PowerPivot Execution Mode
    Displays the security level of the current connection and user. This information can be used to troubleshoot problems in connecting to data sources or refreshing from data sources.

  • Enable PowerPivot Tracing
    Select the check box to enable creation of a trace file that logs the interactions of the PowerPivot workbook with the server and with Microsoft Excel. This trace file can help support personnel to diagnose problems.

    The trace file is created when you click Take Snapshot, and tracing is active as long as the current workbook is open. Therefore, if you want to disable tracing, you must close the PowerPivot window and the Excel workbook, and reopen the workbook.

  • Trace File Location
    Displays the location of the trace file, if tracing has been enabled.

    Trace files are stored by default in this location:

    <drive>:\Users\<user name>\Desktop\Trace<id>.trc

    Note

    The file is in an encrypted format that is intended for technical support and cannot be edited. However, the file can be opened by using SQL Server Profiler.

    After you enable client tracing, the name of the option changes to, Client tracing is enabled.

  • Take snapshot
    Click to create a trace file that shows the current state of the PowerPivot workbook.

    The PowerPivot window must be open to create a snapshot. Therefore, if the Take Snapshot button is not available, close the Options and Diagnostics dialog box, open the PowerPivot window, and then click Options and Diagnostics again.

Customer Experience Tab

  • Participation Options
    Click to open a new dialog box and specify whether you want to provide feedback to Microsoft about your experience with this product.

  • Read more about the Customer Experience Improvement Program
    Click the link to open a Web site that describes the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement program.

Language tab

  • Language Options
    Select an option to change the language that is used in the menus, dialog boxes, and messages in the PowerPivot window. You can either match the language setting used by Excel, or choose a language from the dropdown list.

    If you change the current language, you must close the current workbook and restart Excel.

  • Current Language
    Displays the language that is currently used for the menus, dialog boxes, and messages in the PowerPivot window.

  • Collation
    Displays the collation, or sorting order, that is currently used for PowerPivot data.

    If no collation is displayed, the default collation for the current language is used.