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

2016-03-17T22:07:28+00:00
Hi everyone,

Sorry for the slow response here, for some reason the forums weren't correctly notifying me when there were new replies to the conversation.

To provide a quick update, I have met with both CareyTosello and PokenAZ to troubleshoot the issue with them. John and Brandon, please try the troubleshooting steps provided below and let me know if that doesn't fix the issue. From there, we can private message you to get email addresses and troubleshoot over email.

Here is what I found from looking working with the other people on this post:
1. There is a problem with saving older office files (those with .xls extensions) on Windows 10 if they contain hyperlinks (email addresses or website links). If your files contain hyperlinks, we are aware of the issue and are investigating it currently with the plan on fixing it in an upcoming update.
2. If you are experiencing the Protected View message only on email document and when opening files from the Web, this is expected behavior and was designed as a way to protect from accidently opening files that contain malicious content.
3. If you are seeing anything other than this, please let me know and I will take a look and troubleshoot with you.
Thanks,

Micah
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Anonymous

2016-03-19T16:46:24+00:00

Micah,

I have had a similar issue to the ones being reported. I was using Excel '10 and have a document that I have used to update some financial data regularly. This file does not contain any hyperlinks and is not opened from Outlook, it is simply in My Documents.

When I try opening the document from the file explorer (double click) Excel opens but the document is not opened with it. If I go to File - Open I can select the document and it opens without any issues. I have tried a couple of things including removing all graphs and color formatting, but this hasn't solved the problem. The only thing I haven't tested is removing all the equations in the file but this is not practical.

Another thing I have tried is opening the file and trying to Save As in another location, unfortunately this hasn't fixed the issue.

I am using Windows 10 and recently upgraded to Office 16.
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Anonymous

2016-03-26T00:27:00+00:00

Hey Rich,

You should receive a private message shortly, please reply with your email and I will contact you directly. We will do some basic troubleshooting steps and then if that doesn't resolve it, we will do some detailed troubleshooting to hopefully identify the issue.

Thanks,

Micah
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Anonymous

2016-03-27T17:21:53+00:00

Micah,

I am experiencing the same problem with Excel 2016. I have Excel pinned to my task bar and pinned several Excel worksheets that I use all of the time. If I click on one of those worksheets or doubleclick on a worksheet file when I am viewing it in File Explorer, Excel starts but it is on a blank screen.

Thanks in advance for your help.
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