Using Datasheet View in SharePoint 2010 with 64bit Office 2010

It’s late on a Friday afternoon, you suddenly get told you need to update a whole bunch of items in a list before you get to go have a cold one with the guys – “No problem, I’ll just use Datasheet View”, you think to yourself. You open the list, change from Standard View to Datasheet View and…. O NOOOO!!!

Instead of being awesome and helpful, SharePoint hits you right in the mouth this horrible message:

“The list cannot be displayed in Datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons: A datasheet component compatible with Windows SharePoint Services is not installed, your browser does not support ActiveX controls, or support for ActiveX controls is disabled. ”

But wait? This work’s on Angela’s desktop … why doesn’t it work on mine, now that I need it most?

The answer is simple – You’re running 64-bit Office 2010 and Angela is running 32-bit Office 2010. Fortunately there is a quick and simple workaround for you to get to that cold Beer in no time!

Step 1:

Download and Install the 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components

Step 2:

Use your 32-bit Internet Explorer (found at this location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe )

Step 3:

Try again – if everything went well, you should be able to open it in Datasheet View this time