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

(On the issue of Microsoft's refusal to fix issues like these, even if some obscure third party driver was the sole and exclusive cause of this which it isn't , how on earth did the Office team write the code so badly that it could be blown up by that (or even by hardware graphics acceleration come to that) anyway? And even more importantly... what, if anything, is Microsoft doing about it, right now? ) I'm betting that the post that I replied to was intended to be "Marked! As! Answer!. It must have been disappointing that I didn't do that. I'd say that it's disappointing that 3 weeks later there is sill no response to that last question, except that it's more "that's the way Microsoft rolls these days" than unexpected.

AKMC, Sorry for the confusion here. I understand that you don't have the DIsplayLink issue, but something else that needs investigating. Can you can you tell me exactly which update of Excel 2016 you're running today, and whether you are still experiencing the exact same symptoms you originally reported? I'll then get someone on the Excel team to look into this.

Sorry for the confusion here. I understand that you don't have the DIsplayLink issue, but something else that needs investigating. Can you can you tell me exactly which update of Excel 2016 you're running today, and whether you are still experiencing the exact same symptoms you originally reported? I'll then get someone on the Excel team to look into this. Well this is interesting. This morning I've tried every permutation of opening files that I can think of (from GMail, from Outlook, .xls format, .xlsx, .xlsm etc) and unlike only a few weeks ago, they're opening in protected mode... but not crashing Excel when I enable editing. I tried to find the details of the patches that had been done since then, but the relevant page only has details of upgraded features, not bug fixes. (Perhaps there aren't any bugs in Office. Stop laughing everyone.) It makes me suspect that somewhere in the March updates there was indeed a fix for this issue. It would be interesting to know if anyone on 16.0.6741.2021 or higher is still experiencing this.

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

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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

2016-03-19T19:59:53+00:00

(On the issue of Microsoft's refusal to fix issues like these, even if some obscure third party driver was the sole and exclusive cause of this which it isn't, how on earth did the Office team write the code so badly that it could be blown up by that (or even by hardware graphics acceleration come to that) anyway? And even more importantly... what, if anything, is Microsoft doing about it, right now?)

I'm betting that the post that I replied to was intended to be "Marked! As! Answer!. It must have been disappointing that I didn't do that.

I'd say that it's disappointing that 3 weeks later there is sill no response to that last question, except that it's more "that's the way Microsoft rolls these days" than unexpected.
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Anonymous

2016-03-19T22:28:19+00:00

AKMC,

Sorry for the confusion here. I understand that you don't have the DIsplayLink issue, but something else that needs investigating. Can you can you tell me exactly which update of Excel 2016 you're running today, and whether you are still experiencing the exact same symptoms you originally reported? I'll then get someone on the Excel team to look into this.
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2016-04-01T21:33:32+00:00

Sorry for the confusion here. I understand that you don't have the DIsplayLink issue, but something else that needs investigating. Can you can you tell me exactly which update of Excel 2016 you're running today, and whether you are still experiencing the exact same symptoms you originally reported? I'll then get someone on the Excel team to look into this.

Well this is interesting. This morning I've tried every permutation of opening files that I can think of (from GMail, from Outlook, .xls format, .xlsx, .xlsm etc) and unlike only a few weeks ago, they're opening in protected mode... but not crashing Excel when I enable editing. I tried to find the details of the patches that had been done since then, but the relevant page only has details of upgraded features, not bug fixes. (Perhaps there aren't any bugs in Office. Stop laughing everyone.)

It makes me suspect that somewhere in the March updates there was indeed a fix for this issue. It would be interesting to know if anyone on 16.0.6741.2021 or higher is still experiencing this.
Was this answer helpful?

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