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SDC28

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Unable to open Excel attachments in Outlook 2010

I have a user who was recently upgraded from Office 2003 to Office 2010.  Everything is working fine with the exception of Excel attachments in Outlook.  When the user attempts to open the attachment by double-clicking it, nothing happens.  Right-clicking and choosing Open from the shortcut menu gets the same results.  If the Excel attachment is saved to the local disk, however, it can then be opened after a warning about being in a different format, but even then they open up like it is in CSV format asking the user to adjust the column sizes.  Weird stuff I know.  Back to Outlook, it is like it doesn't know how to handle an Excel attachment.  Word and Powerpoint attachments open fine.  I've forwarded the message with an Excel attachment to another user with Office 2010 and it opens normal...so there is something with this user's configuration that doesn't like Excel attachments in Outlook.  Any ideas?  Oh...I did run a repair and reinstall to no avail.  Thanks!
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2toria
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Try this.

Go to Excel Options, Advanced tab, and under the general heading uncheck the box that says: Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)

HTH,
Matt
Quite common problem.

From the menu, select Tools/Options, click the General
tab, uncheck Ignore Other Applications.

That will sort it.

Wayne
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SDC28

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The user is gone for the day, so I will try this in the morning.  Thanks!
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Ok, so I went into the Ignore Other Applications...piece and it was already unchecked.  So I then created a new outlook profile under an administrative account on the system and I was able to open Excel attachments.  I thought it must be his Outlook profile then, but when I created a new one under his account, it still fails to open Excel attachments...same issue.  I then tried a profile without cached exchange mode...same result.  I then renamed his local settings\microsoft\outlook folder so that it would create a new one thinking there might be something in there hosing it up.  It created a new outlook folder, but the problem was still there.  I also disabled all the add-ins in outlook (excel had none) and it still failed.  So I know it works on his machine...what's left...his Windows profile?
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WayneATaylor
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Yes, no problem there...I can save the file local and it will come up...that is our current workaround.
Do other programs docs open OK, word etc?


Try this..

Go to start, then run.  Type dcomcnfg and push OK, Component Services should come up.

Expand Component Services, click on Computers, then "Right click" on My Computer and go to "properties".

Click on Default Properties tab, and make sure the following is set:

Default Authentication Level: Should say "Default", not "None"

And Default Impersonation Level: Should say Identify.

If this fixes it, it was a DCOM issue.

Wayne


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Well, I tried the DCOM resolution and still had the same problem, so I fiddled around some more and stumbled across the solution.  I'm awarding the points to WayneATaylor because you got me thinking in the right direction.  When I had previously stated that the Excel files could be opened by saving them to the local disk, I found out that the user was not double-clicking them, but rather opening them through Excel (File|Open).  When I saved an Excel attachment to the local disk and double-clicked it the problem was immediately apparent...it asked me with what program I wanted to open the .xls file...sigh...so it was file association after all.  Good lesson learned here...test out everything, regardless of what the user has stated.  Thanks for all of your help...I don't think I would have come across this without trying all the other things!
Waynes DCOM solution did not work for me! :-(