Excel files won't open since I've upgraded to Excel 2016 (says they are corrupt)

Anonymous

I recently upgraded to Excel 2016. I use the Office Personal 365 subscription.

My files now won't open. They show as corrupt. It tries to open in "protected" mode, but it stops working before anything happens. I didn't have issues before upgrading.

Hopefully this is an easy fix, but I can't seem to find a solution online. Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

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Anonymous

Bert, I'm sorry that the Quick Repair didn't work for you. Here is a more detailed reply addressing all of the different permutations of issues I have seen. Hopefully something in the list will help you. If not, please let me know.

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for providing information and helping us to identify all of the different problems. Unfortunately, there is no one single cause to files not opening correctly when double clicked and there are even a few different experiences that often get grouped together as "The file didn't open". Specifically, we see the following behaviors most often:

After double clicking a file to open it, Excel opens with a grey background, but the file never opens. Additionally, a message about "There was a problem sending the command to the program" may appear.
Double clicking a file doesn't even open Excel, and/or the icons on the Desktop and in File Explorer don't appear to be associated with Excel.
Double clicking the file opens Excel, but an error appears saying the file is corrupted or opens in Protected View, preventing edits.

Here are the proposed solutions/workarounds for each of the above problems:

Potential solutions to Problem 1 "App opens, but file doesn't"

Ensure that the DDE option is unchecked. The option can be found in File -> Options -> Advanced -> "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)"
Disable all third party apps that interact with Excel. We have found some occurrences of third party add-in or applications that intercept commands from Windows to Excel, preventing Excel from opening the file. Specifically, we have seen security, encryption and two-factor authentication add-in prevent files from opening. Add-ins can be disabled by unchecking all boxes in File > Options > Add-ins > COM Add-ins (in dropdown at bottom of screen) > Go… > Uncheck all boxes > Click OK. Unfortunately, there is no way to manage Third Party applications that interact with Excel, so you would need to find those manually in Task Manager Processes and stop any that you think could interfere (CTRL+ALT+DELETE > Task Manager > Processes).
Unhide windows. If all of the windows on a workbook are hidden, it will appear that the file didn’t open. You can unhide windows by clicking the "Unhide" button in the Window section of the View tab in the ribbon.
Update registry entries for DDE. It is possible that through installation of add-ins, upgrades or other means, the registry values that control DDE can be changed. We recommend using Quick Repair or Full Repair to restore registry values, rather than changing them manually. You can access repair from Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Right click Microsoft Office 365 [or whichever version you have installed] > Change > Quick Repair.
As a workaround, you can open the Excel app and then try and open the file again (either from within the app or by double clicking on the file again). This will bypass most of the problems associated with DDE, allowing you to open files.

Potential solutions to Problem 2 "Excel files aren't associated with the Excel application"

Run a Quick Repair. The most likely cause here is a Windows upgrade, Office upgrade or installation of a different document management suite caused the Office files to no longer be associated with the Office applications on your computer. You can access repair from Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Right click Microsoft Office 365 [or whichever version you have installed] > Change > Quick Repair.

Potential solutions to Problem 3 "Corruption message or Protected View Message"

When opening the file, let Excel repair the corruption. This happens automatically when Excel detects the file is corrupted. It attempts to repair as much as possible.
The file opens in Protected View. If it is from an untrusted location (email attachments and web locations are generally considered untrusted), then this is expected behavior and was designed that way to protect from accidently opening files that contain malicious content.

Lastly, if you are experiencing the first problem and none of the solutions resolve the issue, please let me know and I can work with you individually to determine what is happening and hopefully find a resolution.

Thanks,

Micah

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204 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-08-17T00:33:09+00:00

I cannot open any Excel files sent to me via email--therefore I can't work on any shared files. There's no corruption message, simply nothing happens--Excel opens anew, even if it's already open, to a blank workbook. since i upgraded to Windows 2016 no Excel file shows an icon in File Explorer--it's just a blank document rectangle. if i click on a shared file in my Downloads the same happens, namely a blank worksheet with a gray background. i tried all the suggested issues and none were relevant, so all this did was waste another 15 minutes of my life (not exactly easy to find all those things, especially "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)"). I also can no longer open an active file directly: I have to open Excel, then go into File - Open - and find the one i've been working on in the right-hand list. Not sure what else to try
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Anonymous

2016-08-11T22:41:33+00:00

Quick repair on Office 3565 didn't work. Excel 2016 shows file is corrupt when trying to open.

365 and windows 10 upgrade. Strangely has only started happening a week or so after the upgrade. Also tried changing trust center settings to no avail. No links etc in excel files.
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Anonymous

2016-08-09T04:26:58+00:00

There's also this from:

https://www.poremsky.com/office/cant-open-office-documents-file-block-settings/

This is not new to Office 2013, but apparently many users skipped Office 2010 and are only now discovering that some older files won't open in the Office applications. This is because of a security feature called File Block.

The File Block Settings will force the selected file extensions to open in Protected View or will block them completely. If you run into problems opening email attachments, you need to change the settings in the application that will open the attachment, not in Outlook.

To access the File Block Settings, open the application (Word or Excel etc) and open it's File, Options, Trust Center dialog. Select File Block Settings to view the settings.

Any file types selected in the Open column (1) are controlled by the selection at the bottom of the dialog (2).

Any file types that are selected in the Save column cannot be saved. You'll need to Save as in a different format.
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Anonymous

2016-08-09T04:21:58+00:00

From: https://blog.lekman.com/2012/10/remove-protected-view-from-office-2013.html

Open Word, open Settings and locate the Trust Center section. Click “Trust Center Settings” and locate the “Protected View” area and uncheck all options.

![](http://lh6.ggpht.com/-guOPGcDq2q0/UHgEwyBuT4I/AAAAAAAAAdY/cHyNFd1rXBk/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800)
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