This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I recently upgraded my office to 2010 from 2007 after that i am unable to open any .xls files created by previous version
no issue with the files because i can open it in 2003 sp3 and 2007 sp2 versions
A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Try the following steps:
2. Click on File > Options.
Right click on the file and go to properties. Make sure that read-only isn't checked and that there are no other attributes checked.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the reply and my apology for not responding sooner; I was having bigger problems with the Windows 10 upgrade and Kaspersky Total Security. I did check the attributes and no attributes were checked. However, I did click on Security within Properties and when I clicked on either "Everyone" or my UserID on this computer, I was able to open the files. Apparently it remembered the ownership as belonging to me on the old computer and I had to change the ownership over to this computer. I hope this helps anyone else with this problem.
Right click on the file and go to properties. Make sure that read-only isn't checked and that there are no other attributes checked.
I recently purchased MS Office 2016 and am running it on my desktop Windows 7 machine. I have unchecked the protected files tabs and have tried both double clicking on an old .xls file and trying to open it from within Excel 2016. I get two messages, the first that Excel is unable to open the file, and the second saying that the file is corrupt or read only, etc. I understand that the new Excel uses the .xlsx extension, but when I try to change the extension on the old file I'm told I need to be the administrator, which I am. That message just repeats without giving me a chance to enter my administrator password, or any way to prove I'm the administration. Finally, I tried Microsoft's instruction to use the "change" option under uninstall for MS Office 2016, both local and internet and basically reinstalled Office. Still unable to open those old Office 97/ 2003 Excel files. Any help appreciated.
Unchecking protected view worked for me thanks.