excel 2013 can't open old files

If I click on an Excel file Excel opens with a blank worksheet.  That is it.  If I open Excel and then open the file from Excel it is fine.  It does not seem to matter whether of not it is an older file or a new one.

Reinstalling fixed my issue.  Why should this have been necessary?

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.

FIXED - 3) below (actually 3b) fixed this issue for me. :)

I have these installed:

* Windows 8.1 (64bit)

* MS Project Pro 2010 installed locally (via DreamSpark as a Uni student)

* MS Visio Pro 2013 installed locally (via DreamSpark as a Uni student)

* MS Office 365 ProPlus (Office 2013) installed locally (via MS Student Advantage as a Uni student)

I am trying to open excel files (*.xls & *.xlsx) that were created with MS Office 2010 OR LibreOffice OR OpenOffice. When I double click one to open it, Excel (2013) opens but the file does not & there is no error message displayed.  I can only open the file in Excel by using File > Open > & browse for the file.

When I open *.xls files, it shows " [Compatibility Mode] - Excel" after the filename in the title bar. Everything else works fine such as editing, printing & saving, just not double clicking to open.

Potential Checks:

1. In Excel > File > Options > Advanced > 'Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)' is NOT ticked (by default).
2. *.xls & *.xlsx files are set to open with excel by default, however I have tried re-setting this, but it didn't fix the problem.

3) Re-register Excel with Windows.

The path for my excel.exe is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15\excel.exe, the path differs depending on your Windows & Office version.

3a) For Office 2003 or earlier, run these 2 separate commands in 'Run' (Windows key + R), however as we are talking about Office 2013, this method is invalid, use 3b) instead.

Windows key + R (run) >

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15\excel.exe" /unregserver

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15\excel.exe" /regserver

3b) As per http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/StartupProblems.asp, apparently /regserver only works up to Office 2003 as it was removed in Office 2007.

For Office 2007 & above, you need to run Office setup in 'Repair' mode from 'Programs & Features' (aka 'Add/Remove Programs') via 'Control Panel'.

eg: Control Panel > Programs & Features (Add/Remove Programs) > select Office 2013 > Change > Repair.

THIS FIXED MINE :)

4. Right click excel.exe > Properties > there is no 'Compatibility' tab so I can't do the following:

Uncheck the box 'Run this Program in Compatibility Mode',

Make sure you also click on the option 'change settings for all users' tab at the bottom of the same screen.

> Apply > Ok.

5. Installed MS Office Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT) via http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2812744/en-us

and ran it for Office 2013 (ClickToRun). The only results were:

* WARNING - hyperlinks are not working in Outlook

* INFORMATIONAL - Cashed Credentials (Win Vista & above)

6. other suggestions via http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/StartupProblems.asp

Regards

Shell

I went to the windows control panel and did a repair for my Office 365 (quick repair and then online repair). Post that I started getting the following message while launching excel "there was a problem sending the command to the program".

I then ran a wizard driven utility provided by Microsoft that solved my problem. Link is http://support.microsoft.com/KB/211494

Now double clicking an excel file opens as expected.

I went to the windows control panel and did a repair for my Office 365 (quick repair and then online repair). Post that I started getting the following message while launching excel "there was a problem sending the command to the program".

I then ran a wizard driven utility provided by Microsoft that solved my problem. Link is http://support.microsoft.com/KB/211494

Now double clicking an excel file opens as expected.

That's the same as this step :)

1. In Excel > File > Options > Advanced > 'Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)' is NOT ticked (by default).