How to Fix Can't Find Project or Library Error Message

Amy Dennis

Nov 06, 2020 • Filed to: Recover & Repair Files • Proven solutions

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When using MS Excel document or MS Access that assimilate functions or buttons which need VBA (Visual Basic Applications) for the Macros to perform some assigned task, the user may get a compilation error "Can't find project or library."

What is the cause of this Error?

• This error is usually caused by the user's MS Access or MS Excel program. The reason is that the program has a reference to an object or type of library which is missing and hence not found by the program. Accordingly, the program cannot use VB or Micro based functions or buttons. Therefore an error message is sent.
• Sometimes a library may be toggled or toggled off, causing a missing link between the library and program code. So the compilation error is issued.
• Since there are standard libraries, so missing a library sounds a bit of the least chance. The other possible reason, in that case, is that library miss-match is the cause of the error. For example, the user may have a library (sat Outlook) version of 2007, but the code's reference may be looking for the 2010 version of that specific library. So the program fails to find the corresponding library, thus issuing this compilation error.
• Another scenario for the same error message concerns the use of Microsoft XP, which includes a reference to web service in the VBA project. When you run this project in MS Office 2003, the same compilation error appears. The reason is the same, i.e., an object or type of library is missing (or not found).

Solution1. Adding or Removing a Reference to a Library

The first solution to fix the “Can’t Find Project or Library” error in MS Access is to remove a library reference. To do so, you can follow this step-by-step process.

Step 1: Launch MS Access on your PC and open the Database/Application that’s showing the error.

Step 2: Now, simultaneously press “Alt” + “F11” to launch the VBA editor window.  

Step 3: Now, click the “Tools” button at the top menu bar and select “Preferences” from the drop-down menu.

Step 4: In the next dialog box, uncheck the “Missing: Microsoft Access Object” and click “Ok” to save your changes.

Restart MS Access and check if you encounter the same error anymore or not. 

Solution2: Registering a Library File

There are many situations when installing new software automatically de-registers a few specific libraries. In such cases, many MS Access functions will not work and you’ll be prompted with the “Can’t Find Project or library” error. A quick and easy way to fix this issue is to simply register a library file manually.
Although it’s a bit complicated to manually register a library file, you can follow these steps to get the job done.

Step 1: Right-click the “Start” button and click “Command Prompt (Admin)” to launch the command prompt as an administrator. 

Step 2: Once you’re in the CMD window, simply type REGSVR32 “Path of the DLL File that you want to register”. For instance, REGSVR32 “C:\Program Files\Blackbaud\The Raisers Edge 7\DLL\RE7Outlook.dll”.

This will register the desired library file and you won’t encounter the same error anymore. 

Solution3: Try Un-Register Or Re-Register The Library

Finally, if nothing works, you can either re-register or unregister the library file completely to fix the error. First, let’s check out how to re-register a library file.

Step 1: Press “Windows” + “R” and type Regsvr32.exe.

Step 2: Press Enter and type the full path of the missing library file. For instance, “regsvr32 “c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\dao\dao360.dll”.
If this doesn’t fix the error, you can simply unregister the library file, To do this, replace “Regsvr32.exe” with “regsvr32 -u” and again paste the path of the library.

That’s it; un-registering the library file will fix the “can’t find project or library” error and you’ll be able to work on your MS Access database without any interruption.

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Solution 4: Repair MS Excel File with Excel Repair Tool

Third-party Excel file repair software is there to resolve all such matters quickly and accurately. One of the Best Excel file Repair software to repair and recover damaged/ corrupt Excel files is described below.

This Excel file repair software is available for single as well as multiple systems. The file repairing tool supports all versions of windows and supports Excel 2011 for Mac. This permits the repair of corrupted Excel file (.XLS and .XLSX) and restores all the data from corrupt to a new Excel file.

Step 1 Select a corrupt Excel file from drive and search.

Step 2 Choose one or all corrupt Excel files to start to repairing process.

Step 3 Preview the repaired Excel file.

Step 4 Select a preferred location to save the repaired Excel file.

In addition to Excel Repair Tool or Excel file repair software, a few tips may help quick fixes (to recover or repair corrupted Excel file).

Case 1. When an Excel file is open, try any one of the following.

1. Try on a different computer
2. Switch off Auto-save.
3. Turn off the file-sharing.
4. Do not run Excel from a floppy.
5. Please save the file as a web page and reopen it as an Excel file.

Case 2. When Excel cannot open the file, try one of the following.

1. Open the corrupt file on the hard-drive. Copy from floppy.
2. Find .xlb file. Also, keep a backup. Delete .xlb. Restart Excel.
3. Open file in MS Word or Notepad. That will let you recover data but not formatting.
4. With MS Excel 97/2000 viewer, you can view the data and print. Open the file using this free program to recover data. This program will recover formatting as well as cell values.
5. Use Excel XP. This has better options for recovery.