There is no excuse for a mapping tool that works exactly once before demanding a full reinstall, and the fact that this user is expected to troubleshoot this alone is the real failure here. The grayed-out "Show Map" button in ArcGIS for Excel is not a user error, not a DNS hiccup, and not a mystery that requires a wild goose chase through ChatGPT. It is a reliability problem, and it is costing this person real time across twenty nearly identical workbooks.
What stands out in this story is the pattern: the add-in works precisely one time after a clean reinstall, then breaks again upon reopening the same file. That is not a configuration issue. That is a state management problem, likely tied to how the add-in caches session data or how it interacts with files stored on OneDrive. The user already tested the obvious variables: local storage, file format, even a full Office wipe. None of them stuck. So when the only consistent variable is the OneDrive sync environment, the conversation should shift from "what did you do wrong" to "what is your tool doing wrong."
Here is the practical takeaway for anyone running a similar workflow: stop treating this as a personal failure and start documenting the conditions around each failure. Note whether the file is synced, whether the add-in loads before or after the workbook, and whether the UDFs trigger any background recalculations. The fact that the user has twenty identical workbooks is an advantage, not a burden. That means you can isolate whether the issue is tied to a specific file or to the environment itself. If all twenty break the same way, the problem is systemic. If only some break, the variable is in the data or formatting.
The deeper issue is that tools like ArcGIS for Excel are supposed to lower the barrier to spatial analysis, not raise it with undocumented behavior. When a user has to reinstall an add-in after every single session just to see a map, the tool has become the obstacle. That is not a workflow problem; it is a product problem. Until the vendor addresses how the add-in manages its own state across sessions, especially with cloud-synced files, users should plan for the worst: assume the map will gray out, and build a recovery step into the routine. That is not ideal, but it is honest. And honesty beats a support thread that ends with "have you tried turning it off and on again."