"Display" pane for SAP analysis for Microsoft Excel 1.4 Doesn't open.

I've been having ever so much fun getting pre-office 2013 add-ins to work in Excel 2013. For the most part adding them to the XLSTART folder in the office install directory (so they load automatically with excel) has fixed the problem. This only really works with XLA/XLAM type add-ins though. The last couple of days I've been working with one that launches via an exe and shows in excel as a .dll.

The add-in is "Analysis for Microsoft Excel" version 1.4, it's an add-in associated with SAP. The add-in is launched via an executable (BiSharedAddinLauncher.exe) and shows up in excel > file > optionas > add-ins> as a .dll (bishared07addinshim.dll).

The Short Version

The problem ended up being the start page (the new office 2013 thing that displays a bunch of templates and adds extra clicks before you can actually get work done). Disabling the start page (through group policy, you'll have to download/"install" the office 2013 ADMX files from microsoft) allowed the add-in to load properly.

The Long Version

So when we tried to launch the add-in on most computers (worked on some, which was weird) we would see the add-in load, and the appropriate tab on the ribbon would appear. Most functions would also work. However trying to open the "Display" pane didn't work. The icon would light-up like it was open, but the panel would never show up. 

This problem occurred on windows 7 x86 with office 2013 x86 and on a windows 2008R2 with office 2013 x86 running RDS. 

After much reinstalling (including the entire office suite) I finally found that launching the add-in once excel was already open (file > options > add-ins > com add-ins > go ) worked. This suggested that, for whatever reason, the add-in was not fully loaded when it was launched at the same time as excel. Obviously, adding the add-in in this manor each time you wanted to use it would be much less convenient that clicking the executable from the start menu. 

On a whim, a whim fueled mostly by my hate of the start page, I decided to disable the start page and low-and-behold the problem stopped. The add-in and all of its features work like they're supposed to. I can't imagine why the start page in excel would keep an add-in from loading properly. 

Oh, on a semi-related note, the "excel is not the current default program for all spreadsheet files" dialog also blocks add-ins from loading; blocks them entirely, they never load, you have to click  "don't show this again" and re-launch the add-in to get around it.