Excel 2016 will not open file from file explorer

Anonymous
2015-09-25T09:51:21+00:00

I cannot get Excel 2016 to open and run a file by clicking on the file from File Explorer. Is there a bug?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2015-11-24T11:55:44+00:00

The issue got solved by an online repair from the Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

Hope it helps to others

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-21T20:58:21+00:00

    Repair does not fix my issue.  This is a total waste of time.

    If I select an .xls file from file explorer adobe reader dc fails to open it, naturally.  It is trying to open it because it shows as the default app.  Apparently under windows 10 there is no way for me to change an existing file association.  I can set the default for .xlsx file etc. to excel 2016 but that doesn't help me as the files I am trying open are shared with users using older versions of excel that are creating .xls files.

    Anybody have any guess as to how I can change the .xls file association to be excel 2016 rather than Adobe reader??

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-01-21T21:10:24+00:00

    This problem isn't happening on my laptop with Win 10, only on my desktop with Win 8 (or is it 7)? Anyway, it seems be a bug in Excel 2016 that wasn't caught when testing on older operating systems

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-21T22:20:21+00:00

    This problem isn't happening on my laptop with Win 10, only on my desktop with Win 8 (or is it 7)? Anyway, it seems be a bug in Excel 2016 that wasn't caught when testing on older operating systems

    It's happening on my win10 system and it might be an excel 2016 bug but it certainly is a windows 10 issue that I can't change the default app on a file association.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-01-21T22:39:33+00:00

    I fixed it.

    Installed office 2016 again and the in windows 10 file association clicking on .xls default app adobe reader gave me excel 2016 as a choice for default app.  Selected it and now it works fine again.

    Waste of an afternoon mucking around searching for a fix for what is apparently some kind of bug in Office 2016.  Odd that each time you repair or re-install over the top it requests your key again.

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