excel 2013 can't open old files

Anonymous
2013-03-04T04:59:35+00:00

I got windows office 2013 and installed it on my windows 7 laptop.  I have old office 2007 excel files that I can't open, and some that will only open when I go through the program and search for them. After loading some files I tried to save them in the new format. But even after that I can't open the file. I tried coping and pasting the info, again with no sucess. what can I do to fix this.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-04-24T10:38:04+00:00

    I am also having the same problem trying to open an Excel file created in a prior version (I believe it was 2007).  This particular file was password protected as well if that means anything or helps?  Was there ever a fix found for the initial question(s)?  Thanks in advance.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-12T01:17:10+00:00

    The weird thing is that if I open Excel and then browse to the file it opens but when I click on an Excel (both xls and xlsx) file Excel opens but not the file.   All very strange and annoying. 

    Hello Ira,

    If you’re able to open within the application, this might be an issue with the file association.

    Follow the steps mentioned below on how to create the file association for these files:

    1. Right click on any of the Excel file.
    2. Click on Open with > Choose default program.
    3. Now choose ‘Microsoft Excel 2013’.
    4. Ensure to have a check mark in the box reading ‘Always use the selected program for this kind of file’
    5. Click OK.

    Let us know the result to assist you further.

    Thank you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-11T20:25:30+00:00

    The weird thing is that if I open Excel and then browse to the file it opens but when I click on an Excel (both xls and xlsx) file Excel opens but not the file.   All very strange and annoying.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-04-11T18:11:31+00:00

    same issue-- just installed office 2013 (32 bit version recommended by Microsoft of course on their website) on a WINDOWS 7 64 bit machine. NONE of my 2010 Excel .xls or .xlsx file types will open! When check properties of the excel file it shows "opens with Excel (desktop) and shows the new bold E icon which is correct. All looks good but file will not open. All file type associations are also listed correctly. No "edit" to open will open the file. One strange thing is that when i open the 2013 program and look under Recent file --it lists some files i used previously to installing 2013 and then i click on one to open and it opened!  But it will not open any Excel files from any of my directories.  All my files are good and will open with 2010 Office. Publisher, Word and PowerPoint files all work fine and open with 2013---just not Excel. ---Only Excel files will not open---why??

    PLEASE HELP!! 

     thanks, rob

    I've been perusing this thread because I had a similar problem =)

    I found that if I right click on the excel file>> properties >> general >> at the bottom there is a unblock button for safety or whatever - click it so its not highlighted...and that fixed the problem for me...

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-04-10T18:02:53+00:00

    hi Shelley,

    Thank you. I forgot to say my Outlook did not work either! No compatibility issue though it says...but it would not run and the popped message was that i had an older version of MS exchange....and it just stayed hung. tat hangs up ---its 2014...Why would you write software. So i went to delete the email account profile and create a new one and it still did not work....now i am still stuck using the Outlook 365 web mail which i do not like to use. Now i have to figure this out...you would think when MS writes the programs it would not leave you hangin to figure out things out when checks could thoroughly be embedded into a good piece of software! I totally agree with you---stupidly unnecessarily frustrating time consuming #$@!^^&*

    all the best, 

    Rob

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