Has anyone else encountered this problem? Receive an Excel file in email (both GMail and (desktop) Outlook 2016 (using a live.com account, not a GMail one) have been tested); Double click on it to open it. (Excel 2016 is already open); The file opens in Excel with that irritating little "Oooooh, very dangerous! Could be scary monsters inside!" message which, I'll admit, is potentially useful for files from outside the organisation which is the only reason that I leave it on. Of course, there's no point if it doesn't actually work. Then one of two things happens. Either You go to click the Enable Editing button and Excel completely hangs on you; or You get the "Excel (Protected Mode) {breathless pause...} Has! Stopped! Working! Pretending to check for a solution that has never once been found in my lifetime, please waste your time waiting" dialog. There is nothing wrong with the file itself. I have tried with two different files, both have a problem. In both cases if instead of opening them from the Email application I save them to a trusted location I can open them without problem. But opening them directly from either browser or Outlook completely crashes Excel 2016 in a way that it didn't with Excel 2010. Anyone else? PS: If anyone from Microsoft responds to this post, looking into this specific question , I'll be more than happy to listen. If instead they copy and paste a script about restarting Windows in Safe Mode I may just need to throw a shoe at something.

I just heard back from a displaylink tech support person. Apparently they are aware of the issue. He had me do a work around that has fixed the issue for me. Open a blank excel document. Go to file 3. Go to options Go to advanced Under Display Check the box...Disable graphics hardware acceleration. 7. Click apply. This has fixed my issue until there is a driver update. Thanks...Matt

Just to "bump" this question a bit, I'm having the exact same problem. It is repeatable and only applies to Office attachments - I can preview/open JPGs, PDFs from email attachments without issue. Word/Excel attachments cause the app to crash. Investigating further, it looks like newer file formats (e.g. .docx .xlsx) seem to open OK even with protected mode enabled. Old formats (.doc .xls .rft) cause the problem. As suggested, disabling "Open in Protected mode" works around the problem at a slight cost to security. Looking forward to the patch.

So I just got an e-mail from Microsoft Communities about this thread. Probably automated, but just in case any sentient Microsoft-based organism is out there... Hello AKMC 117: Remember that question you asked on Microsoft Community a few days ago? Title: Excel 2016 (Protected Mode) Crashing When Opening Files From Email Yes, quite well. Thanks for asking. > We noticed that the question hasn't been marked as Answered yet Yyyyesss... that's because you have a bug in Excel 2016. A buuuuug. From the Oxford English Dictionary: Bug: 5: An error in a computer program or system > and we were wondering if you resolved the issue. No. You know why? Because it's a buuuuug. You have access to the Excel 2016 source code. I do not. You have to resolve the issue, not me. > No, my question is not answered. Reply to provide an update or ask for more help. There's no point in asking the community for more help; they don't have access to the source code either. You, dear Microsoft, need to fix the bug. > Yes, my question is answered. Mark the most helpful post as the Answer. Umm, no. Because there has not yet been a post from Microsoft saying "We fixed the bug in the endless stream of patches that we put out last Tuesday, can you please check that it now works?" Because that post hasn't actually happened, you know. > Help us improve the community. Take a 1-minute survey on your community experience. The community is not the problem. Your bug is the problem. Repeat after me... buuuuuuugggg. Now go fix it, please.

That's good. Well, not "good" in the sense of crashes, but it was a good and useful reply. If others are getting it it's not something specific to me. I didn't get the Outlook crash in preview but that's only because for whatever reason Outlook is telling me that the file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it. Time for Microsoft to get out the bug fixer, when their service support staff get through telling us that it's a permissions issue or something related to our video drivers...

Excel 2016 (Protected Mode) Crashing When Opening Files From Email

Anonymous

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

Receive an Excel file in email (both GMail and (desktop) Outlook 2016 (using a live.com account, not a GMail one) have been tested);
Double click on it to open it. (Excel 2016 is already open);
The file opens in Excel with that irritating little "Oooooh, very dangerous! Could be scary monsters inside!" message which, I'll admit, is potentially useful for files from outside the organisation which is the only reason that I leave it on. Of course, there's no point if it doesn't actually work.

Then one of two things happens. Either

You go to click the Enable Editing button and Excel completely hangs on you; or
You get the "Excel (Protected Mode) {breathless pause...} Has! Stopped! Working! Pretending to check for a solution that has never once been found in my lifetime, please waste your time waiting" dialog.

There is nothing wrong with the file itself. I have tried with two different files, both have a problem. In both cases if instead of opening them from the Email application I save them to a trusted location I can open them without problem. But opening them directly from either browser or Outlook completely crashes Excel 2016 in a way that it didn't with Excel 2010.

Anyone else?

PS: If anyone from Microsoft responds to this post, looking into this specific question, I'll be more than happy to listen. If instead they copy and paste a script about restarting Windows in Safe Mode I may just need to throw a shoe at something.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

I just heard back from a displaylink tech support person. Apparently they are aware of the issue. He had me do a work around that has fixed the issue for me.

Open a blank excel document.
Go to file

3. Go to options

Go to advanced
Under Display
Check the box...Disable graphics hardware acceleration.

7. Click apply.

This has fixed my issue until there is a driver update.

Thanks...Matt

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Updated to displaylink driver 7.9m5 dated 2/23/2016 and problem was resolved for me.

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88 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-10-21T13:37:52+00:00

Just to "bump" this question a bit, I'm having the exact same problem.

It is repeatable and only applies to Office attachments - I can preview/open JPGs, PDFs from email attachments without issue. Word/Excel attachments cause the app to crash.

Investigating further, it looks like newer file formats (e.g. .docx .xlsx) seem to open OK even with protected mode enabled. Old formats (.doc .xls .rft) cause the problem.

As suggested, disabling "Open in Protected mode" works around the problem at a slight cost to security.

Looking forward to the patch.
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Anonymous

2015-10-09T04:23:05+00:00

So I just got an e-mail from Microsoft Communities about this thread. Probably automated, but just in case any sentient Microsoft-based organism is out there...

Hello AKMC 117:

Remember that question you asked on Microsoft Community a few days ago?

Title: Excel 2016 (Protected Mode) Crashing When Opening Files From Email

Yes, quite well. Thanks for asking.

> We noticed that the question hasn't been marked as Answered yet

Yyyyesss... that's because you have a bug in Excel 2016. A buuuuug. From the Oxford English Dictionary:

Bug:

5: An error in a computer program or system

> and we were wondering if you resolved the issue.

No. You know why? Because it's a buuuuug. You have access to the Excel 2016 source code. I do not. You have to resolve the issue, not me.

> No, my question is not answered. Reply to provide an update or ask for more help.

There's no point in asking the community for more help; they don't have access to the source code either. You, dear Microsoft, need to fix the bug.

> Yes, my question is answered. Mark the most helpful post as the Answer.

Umm, no. Because there has not yet been a post from Microsoft saying "We fixed the bug in the endless stream of patches that we put out last Tuesday, can you please check that it now works?" Because that post hasn't actually happened, you know.

> Help us improve the community. Take a 1-minute survey on your community experience.

The community is not the problem. Your bug is the problem. Repeat after me... buuuuuuugggg.

Now go fix it, please.
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Anonymous

2015-10-01T19:57:19+00:00

That's good. Well, not "good" in the sense of crashes, but it was a good and useful reply. If others are getting it it's not something specific to me.

I didn't get the Outlook crash in preview but that's only because for whatever reason Outlook is telling me that the file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it.

Time for Microsoft to get out the bug fixer, when their service support staff get through telling us that it's a permissions issue or something related to our video drivers...
Was this answer helpful?

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