Datasheet view thrown an error in SharePoint 2010

Hi there community,

First of all wishing you a successfull 2012, today we'll talk about a known issue related to "Datasheet View" option for SharePoint 2010 lists.

What is Datasheet View in SharePoint 2010 for?

You can export a SharePoint list from Datasheet view to Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel. With Access, you can export the view to a table in a new database or to an existing database. You can also choose to export to a static table, or export to and create a linked table in Access. With Excel, you can export the Datasheet view to an existing worksheet, a new worksheet or a new workbook. This also creates a link between the Datasheet view and the worksheet and data changes in one can be syncrhonized in the other.

In order to have a successfull export either for Access or Excel you need to click on the Datasheet View button, SharePoint list view will change to an editable view in Access and that's it, for more detailed information please check: https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-sharepoint-services-help/about-exporting-a-datasheet-view-HA001160861.aspx

Unfortunatelly this is not easy as it looks and it's because of the following common error:

Or maybe you don't even have the Datasheet View button enabled like:

This happens because of the following conditions

  1. SharePoint users are using Microsoft Office 2010
  2. They have installed Internet Explorer 7 or later running 64bit

Well if you have been involved in this situation and you do not find the light at the end of the tunnel, this is the way to fix it:

There are some blogs saying that you need to disable some ActiveX registry keys or modifying IE configuration, you do not need to do that, just do the 2 steps above and enjoy.