XLS document not opened when I double click it
Hello experts.
Have a small issue with MS Excel. I have just installed the latest 2016 version. Now when I double click on an xls file, excel will load but the spreadsheet won't show up: I have grey page. However, if I load MS Excel first and open the file from the menu, everything is fine!
Only Excel has this issue. MS Word works fine
Have a small issue with MS Excel. I have just installed the latest 2016 version. Now when I double click on an xls file, excel will load but the spreadsheet won't show up: I have grey page. However, if I load MS Excel first and open the file from the menu, everything is fine!
Only Excel has this issue. MS Word works fine
No sorry. There is no tab and all commands in the ribbon are greyed except a few ones. Even the "save" is greyed. As if it opened Excel but no document was loaded
This KB article hints to update graphics drivers and to allow DDE in new excel.
DDE enable is what is required.
I have usually just copied the settings from a working system.
open regedit , HKLM, and find what .xls is associated with. (for me Excel.Sheet.8 = Xl2007)
then check what Excel.Sheet.8 has as open and dde commands.
here is mine...
it is probable only the ddeexec part you need to fix.
I have usually just copied the settings from a working system.
open regedit , HKLM, and find what .xls is associated with. (for me Excel.Sheet.8 = Xl2007)
then check what Excel.Sheet.8 has as open and dde commands.
here is mine...
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open]
@="&Open"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office12\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e"
"command"=hex(7):76,00,55,00,70,00,41,00,56,00,36,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,\
21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,21,00,4d,00,4b,00,4b,00,53,00,6b,00,45,00,58,00,43,\
00,45,00,4c,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,3e,00,74,00,57,00,7b,00,7e,00,\
24,00,34,00,51,00,5d,00,63,00,40,00,49,00,49,00,3d,00,6c,00,32,00,78,00,61,\
00,54,00,4f,00,35,00,20,00,2f,00,65,00,00,00,00,00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec\application]
@="Excel"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec\topic]
@="system"it is probable only the ddeexec part you need to fix.
Hello
In the registry under "Shell > Open", I have only one line called "Command":
'"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL
That's all
In the registry under "Shell > Open", I have only one line called "Command":
'"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL
That's all
May I ask whether this issue relates to XLS files that have been saved to various folders previously (i.e. "old" files), or whether you have just noticed this issue with newly saved XLS files. If this seems to only affect new files, have they been received by email or by some other file transfer such as downloading from web links?
You may or may not be aware, but files saved out from emails, copied from USB Flash Drives (depending on how they are formatted), and downloaded from web links, have a metadata "flag" inserted into them that contains a code to indicate that they were from "another computer". You will know whether a file has this security flag in it if you right-click and view the file's Properties and see an additional "Unblock" button. The presence of this (Zone.Identifier) flag causes a security dialog (warning of the external origin of the file) to show on opening the file, and has a "don't show this again" check box that deletes the metadata flag as it is opened.
This type of data is known as ADS (Alternate Data Streams) and is only supported on drives formatted as NTFS. It allows an entire file or some data to be stored inside another file without affecting its file size or functionality. If a file with ADS is stored on a FAT32 drive it will remove the flag.
The reason that I mention this possibility with regard to "new" and "old" files is that I often have issues with several applications when double-clicking to open a file that I have newly downloaded from somewhere. I am now in the habit of showing the file properties, clicking "Unblock" and "Apply" before I try to open the file, but when I do forget I can almost guarantee that I will get the same result: The application takes longer to open, it shows the security prompt where I tick the "don't show this again", and the application opens with no content showing.
The main culprits for me are an older image editing application and an older version of Excel.
It might be worth checking whether this could be the underlying cause in your case.
You may or may not be aware, but files saved out from emails, copied from USB Flash Drives (depending on how they are formatted), and downloaded from web links, have a metadata "flag" inserted into them that contains a code to indicate that they were from "another computer". You will know whether a file has this security flag in it if you right-click and view the file's Properties and see an additional "Unblock" button. The presence of this (Zone.Identifier) flag causes a security dialog (warning of the external origin of the file) to show on opening the file, and has a "don't show this again" check box that deletes the metadata flag as it is opened.
This type of data is known as ADS (Alternate Data Streams) and is only supported on drives formatted as NTFS. It allows an entire file or some data to be stored inside another file without affecting its file size or functionality. If a file with ADS is stored on a FAT32 drive it will remove the flag.
The reason that I mention this possibility with regard to "new" and "old" files is that I often have issues with several applications when double-clicking to open a file that I have newly downloaded from somewhere. I am now in the habit of showing the file properties, clicking "Unblock" and "Apply" before I try to open the file, but when I do forget I can almost guarantee that I will get the same result: The application takes longer to open, it shows the security prompt where I tick the "don't show this again", and the application opens with no content showing.
The main culprits for me are an older image editing application and an older version of Excel.
It might be worth checking whether this could be the underlying cause in your case.
so you are missing the DDE keys.... just add them as per mine and should be ok.
Well no sorry. I added the missing keys but the problem is still there, whatever file I use (created by me or sent to me). I am wondering if I need to reinstall excel.
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If this works, save the file and then reopen