Excel 2013 starts up with blank screen when opened from explorer

Anonymous
2013-02-27T17:34:15+00:00

When I double click any Excel file in windows explorer, Excel starts up maximized and I can see the ribbon but the whole grid area where my data should be is blank, no gridlines or row/column headers.   If I "restore down" the Excel window then everything appears as normal.

I sometimes get subsequent Excel crashes.

I also get an Excel crash by clicking on an Excel file in windows explorer, as if to preview it.  The Excel file preview function is not working since I installed Office 2013 Professional.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-04-10T23:09:47+00:00

    I have figured out that if you have the sidebar preview open in window's explorer, viewing files on a HD, and select an excel file to preview it before opening, that is when the "blank excel program" opens.  I close the sidebar preview function in windows and select the same excel file and the blank program doesn't open.

    Same for everyone else?

    Thanks so much, this helped!

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-26T17:08:47+00:00

    This is a disaster. Spent nearly 2 days trying to get to the bottom of this, following forums, Microsoft articles,  updating drivers/software and repair installs of Office 2013.  Have this issue on 2 brand new PCs with Office 2013 installed.

    Like others if I turn off the preview pane in explorer the files will open, but when they files are on your desktop I still have the same issue.  If I minimise and resize the window I can see the file.

    I followed this document http://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/kb/2994633 but nothing worked and at the end it says to contact Microsoft who say they want to charge you to fix the issue.

    Vijay's suggestion of creating a new profile works but it is not an ideal solution as my profiles have virtual machines, which can be messy to transfer between profiles.

    I hope Microsoft release some sort of fix for this.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-03-11T12:57:45+00:00

    Method 1 : worked for me well , Thanks :)

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-03-05T16:42:36+00:00

    A co-worker had the same exact problem of clicking an Excel file name link only to have the file open as a blank sheet, although you could see the data in the cells and print the spreadsheet out.  I went online for a fix and found several resolutions, but the one that fixed the issue was this (for Win 7 users):

    1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer
    2. Go to ORGANIZE --> Folder and Search Options
    3.  In the Folder Options window, go to the VIEW tab
    4.  Under the View tab, check off the box for Hide extensions for known types
    5.  Click Apply and then OK

    Open the Excel file name link and the spreadsheet will come up as normal.

    Again, I tried a few options, but this is the one that worked for me.

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-02-16T19:58:05+00:00

    Thanks DWHood, your solution to GrahamFreeman's post worked out for me. However because I got a fault message saying they couldn't send the the report I used a resolution I found on support.microsft.com to uncheck the check box that says 'ignore other applications that use DDE in Excel options. After that I rebooted and bingo! My Excel 2013 is working normally

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