Excel 2016 - Unable to open Excel file from desktop icon or in other document management system software

Anonymous
2015-10-03T22:12:56+00:00

After recently upgrading my Office 2013 version to Office 2016 (as part of my Office 365 subscription through GoDaddy), I have discovered that I can no longer open an Excel document simply by clicking on an Excel file icon on my desktop, in another window, or from a document management software system.

I have to first start Excel and then search for the file to open it from there.  Even then, there seems to be no consistency as to whether or not the workbook will open.

If I click on say an Excel created document's desktop icon without Excel 2016 already being open, then the program starts up, but all that I get is a blank Excel screen without any open workbook.

I tried going through the Answer Desk and they could not resolve the problem.   Of course they tried to sell me the Assurance plan, however I had been there before and I never received any solid support from that plan.  Therefore I am hoping to get some assistance here.

My laptop is Windows 7 Pro, fully up to date with all Windows updates.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-01-23T14:37:35+00:00

To ALL,

I had the same situation after upgrading office 2007 to office 2016 where I could no longer open an Excel document by double click an Excel file icon on the desktop. I did not have any issues with the rest of the Office 2016 apps. 

I followed the fist method stated above to repair the Office 2016 installation:

1. Open Control Panel and click on Programs and Features icon.

2. Now click on Microsoft Office entry present in the list and click on "Change" button.

3. Now select "Repair" option and click on "Continue" button.

My issue was resolved and now I can open Excel files.

Thanks!!

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Anonymous
2015-10-06T12:45:54+00:00

Hi Boca & Prabhavathi,

I am facing the same situation like you after i upgraded office 2007 to office 2016. I can no longer open an Excel document by double click an Excel file icon on the desktop. It only happen to excel 2016, other office 2016 application like word 2016, powerpoint 2016, etc do not have such problem.

I had tried to repair the Office 2016 installation with the help of following steps:

1. Open Control Panel and click on Programs and Features icon.

2. Now click on Microsoft Office entry present in the list and click on "Change" button.

3. Now select "Repair" option and click on "Continue" button.

It did not help in resolve the problem.

Besides that, i tried to resolve the issue by follow the another solution method.

1. Open the Microsoft Office program and open its Options window. Click on Office ORB or FILE menu present in the ribbon and then click on Options.

2. Now go to Advanced tab and scroll down to bottom. You'll find "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" option present in General section.

3. Make sure its unchecked. If its enabled in your system, disable it by unchecking the checkbox.

4. Apply changes and restart Office program.

Unfortunately, it does not work too.

Still look forward to hear reply from any advance troubleshooter.

Thank you.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-11-06T14:08:57+00:00

    Hi Toyman,

    Honestly I have no idea.  I was given this when I contacted Microsoft 365 Support for this issue.  We were on the phone for about 45 minutes.  These entries were very easy to change as well as change back.  At first he gave me a link that did not work and when we tested it, it just it was unfound.  So we changed it back.  Once I know we were good to go with a correct fix, I wrote everything out so that I could fix the other computers in the office as well as post it here since while I was searching I never found this fix.

    If you are completely uncomfortable, do a backup of your registry so that you can restore it if something goes wrong.

    Thanks

    Danielle

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-03T18:05:25+00:00

    Just fixed my same issue by doing these steps

    Start with going to REGEDIT (type this in the search bar at the bottom left of the computer screen)

    Copy this path in the address bar: Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\command

    • Right click on (Default) and choose Modify
    • In the Value date update the path with this (including quotes):   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE>" /e "%1"
    • Click OK

    Copy this path in the address bar: Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command

    • Right click on (Default) and choose Modify
    • In the Value date update the path with this:   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE>" /e "%1"
    • Click OK

    Try to open an existing Excel file

    1.  If it opens your good to go.

    2.  If it asks you to Choose a Program to Open With, follow these steps:

    • Looks to see if Excel 2016 is in your list of options, if so choose it and it the file should open with no problem.
    • If Excel is not an option, go to File Explorer
      • Copy this path to go to this location:  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
      • Scroll through your list to make sure there is an Excel.exe file.  (If this is missing, we need to figure out where Excel got installed.)
      • Go back to open the existing Excel file
      • When it prompts you to choose a program to open with, scroll to the bottom and choose “other programs”.
        • In the address bar of the browser window, enter this path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE and then click ok

    The excel file should open with no problem.

    Close the spreadsheet

    Try to open another spreadsheet file

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-10-27T15:15:13+00:00

    That box was already unchecked, so this does not appear to be the issue for me.  I have not yet found a commonality between which files will open and which won't.  I just get a blank screen.  I did discover that I  can open the files from within Excel, but not from File Explorer or from an email attachment. 

    I have also had this happen to me in Word.

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