Excel work area is gray after launching SigmaXL
When opening SigmaXL, Excel will load without an active worksheet as displayed in the image below:
A new workbook may be loaded by simply clicking SigmaXL:
Alternatively, to open a workbook using Excel's menu, click File:
Click New > Blank Workbook:
Existing workbooks may be opened by clicking Open > Browse and navigating to the location of a previously saved workbook:
Excel's File > Open > Browse menus may also be used to open SigmaXL as covered in the helpdesk article: Load SigmaXL from an Active Excel Session