Excel won't open

[Dzin]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

My problem is fairly simple. I have Office 2008 (on a MacBook Pro) and Excel will not open. It will not open if I try opening an Excel file or if I try to start Excel from "Applications." It immediately goes to the message apologizing for the program having to close and then it wants to send in a report. Word and PowerPoint do open. I have downloaded the updates for Office with no effect. I have an older Mac and the Excel files open just fine on it.

Should I just reinstall Office 2008? (My IT department is not fully supportive of Mac's, so I would appreciate a simple answer with which I can go to the IT department.)

Thanks.

 

[Pat McMillan]

Can you try holding down the Shift key while launching Excel? Does Excel
still crash?

 

[Dzin]

This is why I love forums. That seems to have solved the problem. Thank you very much!!

 

[Dzin]

I am still very grateful for the solution. But now I am curious why that worked. Is there an explanation that a "user" can understand, especially one that will allow him/her to avoid the problem in the future or to identify a more serious problem?

 

[Pat McMillan]

Sorry. Sure. Excel has a feature called "AutoRecover", which allows you to
set a time (by default it's 10 minutes) after which Excel will automatically
save a temporary version of any open workbook. If Excel then happens to
crash while the document is open, and the document has been changed since
the last time you manually saved it, Excel will automatically open the last
"AutoRecovered" version of the file when you launch Excel. Occasionally,
though, a file may get into a state where just opening it will cause Excel
to crash. Holding down Shift is a not-so-well-known feature that allows you
to force Excel not to open the AutoRecovered version of a file that was open
when Excel crashed.

For whatever reason, if you want to disable the AutoRecover feature, you can
uncheck the checkbox "Save AutoRecover information after this number of
minutes:" on the Save pane of Excel preferences.

One other thing about this area: Windows versions of Excel have a Repair
feature that will often allow you to open damaged or corrupted files by
repairing them or removing invalid content. This is something we've heard
our customers request a lot in recent years, so we're currently evaluating
that feature for a future release of Mac Excel.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[KP]

Hi there, I have had the same problem and have tried this suggestion and it still will not open. Any suggestions??

Thanks so much

 

[Pat McMillan]

Can you tell me what version of Excel you're running and what exactly the
problem is you're having? Is Excel crashing on launch? If so, could you
click on More Information in the Microsoft Error Reporting window, and
copy/paste the entire log into an email message and send it to me
([email protected])?

Thanks,

Pat

 

[sdrace]

This is awesome!!!! I've been unable to open Excel for a month and this one suggestion worked! Can't thank you enough.

 

[Surveymanager]

Thank You! Worked for me, too!

Can you try holding down the Shift key while launching Excel? Does Excel
still crash?




--
Pat McMillan
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corp.
This posting is provided ³AS IS² with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[sdrace]

Using the shift key when I open Excel works but I have to do it every time I do so. And any modification to the toolbar is lost each time I close Excel. Is there a way get it back to normal?

 

[Pat McMillan]

I'm sorry. I'll need more information to answer your question. Are you
saying that unless you hold down the Shift key each time you launch Excel it
still crashes? If so, have you tried disabling AutoRecover in Preferences?

Regarding the toolbar customizations, what toolbar modifications are you
talking about? One thing I will say is that if you've modified a toolbar and
then Excel crashes, the toolbar modification you made will not be reflected
when you launch Excel again. Excel needs to close normally in order for the
toolbar changes to be committed to the preferences file.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Kevin]

Holding shift worked great for me too but I have to hold shift each time I launch excel or it will crash as before. I held shift so it would open and unchecked the auto recover feature under preferences but then when I close excel and reopen it it crashes still or if I reopen excel holding shift when I go back to preferences then auto recover is checked again as if my changes didn't take effect or as if it's opening an earlier version. HELP!!!

I'm sorry. I'll need more information to answer your question. Are you
saying that unless you hold down the Shift key each time you launch Excel
it still crashes? If so, have you tried disabling AutoRecover in Preferences?





Regarding the toolbar customizations, what toolbar modifications are you
talking about? One thing I will say is that if you've modified a toolbar
and then Excel crashes, the toolbar modification you made will not be
reflected when you launch Excel again. Excel needs to close normally in
order for the toolbar changes to be committed to the preferences file.





Thanks,





Pat

Using the shift key when I open Excel works but I have to do it every

time I > do so. And any modification to the toolbar is lost each time
I close Excel. Is > there a way get it back to normal? > >> Sorry. Sure.
Excel has a feature called "AutoRecover", which allows you to >> set a
time (by default it's 10 minutes) after which Excel will automaticallyto >> crash while the document is open, and the document has been changed
since >> the last time you manually saved it, Excel will automatically
open the last >> "AutoRecovered" version of the file when you launch Excel.
Occasionally, >> though, a file may get into a state where just opening
it will cause Excel >> to crash. Holding down Shift is a not-so-well-known
feature that allows you >> to force Excel not to open the AutoRecovered
version of a file that was open >> when Excel crashed. >> >> For whatever
reason, if you want to disable the AutoRecover feature, you can >> uncheck
the checkbox "Save AutoRecover information after this number of >> minutes:"
on the Save pane of Excel preferences. >> >> One other thing about this
area: Windows versions of Excel have a Repair >> feature that will often
allow you to open damaged or corrupted files by >> repairing them or removing
invalid content. This is something we've heard >> our customers request
a lot in recent years, so we're currently evaluating >> that feature for
a future release of Mac Excel. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Pat >> >> >> On 9/22/08
6:14 AM, in article (e-mail address removed)9absDaxw, >> "(e-mail address removed)"
wrote: >> >>> I am still very grateful for the solution. But now I am
curious why that >>> worked. Is there an explanation that a "user" can
understand, especially one >>> that will allow him/her to avoid the problem
in the future or to identify a >>> more serious problem? >> >> -- >> Pat
McMillan >> Macintosh Business Unit >> Microsoft Corp. >> This posting
is provided �AS IS� with no warranties, and >> confers no
rights. >> >> >>





-- Pat McMillan Macintosh Business Unit Microsoft Corp. This posting is
provided �AS IS� with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Pat McMillan]

I think you're facing something more serious than just an Excel problem. I
would recommend quitting all Office applications, trashing your Office
preferences, and repairing permissions on the active partition. Can you see
if that fixes your problem?

 

[Cristian Fournies]

I have the same problem, but holding the shift key, dosen´t work.

When I open a file .xls, the Excel open, but if I do anything else the excel crash. Then if I open Excel lunching de app, the excel open the last file that I open.

any Idea how to fix this?