double-clicking file does not work in Word/Excel

[tb]

Several people have have a recurring issue at our office where they
lose the ability to double-click Word and Excel files. They also
cannot drop the files in the dock icon. Either of these methods will
open the application and give a false sense that the document is
opening, but then the document will not open. They have to resort to
FILE > OPEN and navigate through a mess of folders in their hard drive
or on the Windows Server to get the file open. Needless to say they
are not happy about this. Each user is running Mac OS X 10.2.8 and the
latest Office v.X with all of the MS Office patches through 10.1.5. I
have tried repairing premissions, disk repair, norton disk doctor,
disk warrior, deleting the plist files for Word and Excel. I have
found that deleting the plist files works temporarily. In many cases
the problem returns in less than 24 hours.

There are lots of people using Office v.X that are not reporting this
problem. Those that are experiencing the problem open a lot of old
Office files that are stored on a Windows server. Maybe there is a
connection?

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi,

Several people have have a recurring issue at our office where they
lose the ability to double-click Word and Excel files. They also
cannot drop the files in the dock icon. Either of these methods will
open the application and give a false sense that the document is
opening, but then the document will not open. They have to resort to
FILE > OPEN and navigate through a mess of folders in their hard drive
or on the Windows Server to get the file open. Needless to say they
are not happy about this. Each user is running Mac OS X 10.2.8 and the
latest Office v.X with all of the MS Office patches through 10.1.5. I
have tried repairing premissions, disk repair, norton disk doctor,
disk warrior, deleting the plist files for Word and Excel. I have
found that deleting the plist files works temporarily. In many cases
the problem returns in less than 24 hours.

I think this is a Finder issue. You shoudl probably delete all user and
system cache. THis should take care of the association between files and
applications.
You should probably use an appliaction like Cocktail or TinkerTool
System to do that and then reboot the Mac. <any files will loose the
icons showing their association with an application but they will come
back as you launch the applciation one after the other. Nothing to worry
about there.

There are lots of people using Office v.X that are not reporting this
problem. Those that are experiencing the problem open a lot of old
Office files that are stored on a Windows server. Maybe there is a
connection?

You can also make sure the Finder knows that .xls files are to be opened
by Excel for instance. Select one of these files, press command-i and
then try the Open With section to select Excel and apply that to all
related documents.


Corentin

 

[Mike]

I found this thread looking for a solution to part of the problem that
started it.

When I double-click on an excel file on my iMac, using OS X 10.2.8, it
opens Excel X but not the file. Double-clicking the file again while
Excel X is left running opens the file in Excel X. Thankfully I have
not had the same problem with Word X files.

This is more a nuisance than a problem. However, it's clear that
there is something wrong that needs to be fixed. If anyone has a
solution I would appreciate seeing it shared here.

My installation of Office X includes SR1 and 10.1.1 through 10.1.5
updates. Nothing installed from the Value Pack.

 

[Mike & Barbara Crader]

No one answered my question so I tried deleting the Microsoft Office X
folder and then reinstalling the software, SR1, and then each of the current
five updates one at a time; restarting the computer between each one. After
each installation I tested double-clicking an Excel X file to be certain it
would open along with the application. In the end I was successful
correcting the problem I described below.

I hope this helps others having the same problem.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur [MVP]]

No one answered my question

I didn't have an answer, so I decided to remain quiet instead of posting
something stupid just for the hell of it ;-)) I never had the same
problem before so I was clueless :-\

so I tried deleting the Microsoft Office X
folder and then reinstalling the software, SR1, and then each of the current
five updates one at a time; restarting the computer between each one. After
each installation I tested double-clicking an Excel X file to be certain it
would open along with the application. In the end I was successful
correcting the problem I described below.

I hope this helps others having the same problem.

Thanks a lot for posting the solution in the group.


Corentin