Microsoft excel, word.. cannot be opened after Office 2019 was installed

Perform these steps in order on the Windows PC where Office 2019 was reinstalled:

1. Run a Quick Repair of Office
   1. Select the Start button and open Control Panel.
   2. Choose Programs > Programs and Features.
   3. Select the Office 2019 product, then choose Change.
   4. Select Quick Repair, then Repair.
   5. When finished, try opening Excel and Word files again by double‑clicking them.
2. If files still do not open correctly, run an Online Repair
   1. Close all Office apps.
   2. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
   3. Find Microsoft Office (or Microsoft 365), select the three dots, then Modify.
   4. Choose Online Repair and confirm. This fully reinstalls Office and fixes corrupted components.
   5. Restart the PC after the repair, then open Excel/Word directly from the Start menu, and then open a file via File > Open.
3. Fix file associations if double‑clicking still fails
   1. Open Control Panel.
   2. Go to Programs > Default Programs.
   3. Select Set a default for a file type or link type.
   4. Enter the file type (for example, .xlsx or .docx) and set Excel or Word as the default app.
   5. Repeat for other Office file types as needed.

If multiple Office versions are installed, uninstall the versions that are not needed from Control Panel > Programs and Features, then restart and test again.

References:

• Double-clicking an Office file fails to open it in the correct Office program
• Excel opens to a blank screen
• When I open an excel file it shows - We're sorry, but excel has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly, Excel will need to be closed as a result. would you like us to repair now? then shows the option "repair now","help","close" - Microsoft Q&A
• we are sorry, but word has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Word will need to be closed as a result. Would you like us to repair now? - Microsoft Q&A