Help please! Trouble opening Excel 2003 files.

[astrope1]

I am having problems opening Excel files when they are attached to an email
or when I double click on them when saved to my hard drive. I have no
problem opening them when Excel is already open. If I double click a file
named Nine-box grid.xls that is saved on my desktop, I get the following
error message.

'C:\Documents.xls' could not be found. When I click on ok, I get a
subsequent error message that says 'and.xls' could not be found. Click ok
again and get another message that says
'Settings/mylastname_myfirstname/Desktop/Nine-box.xls' could not be found.
Finally, I click ok again and get the last message which states 'grid.xls'
could not be found. Click ok one more time and Excel opens to a blank and
new spreadsheet.

This happens with any Excel file no matter where it is saved. It is
obviously reading the file path incorrectly, but how do I fix that? Any help
would be appreciated.

 

[Jan Karel Pieterse]

Hi Astrope1,

If I double click a file
named Nine-box grid.xls that is saved on my desktop, I get the following
error message.

'C:\Documents.xls' could not be found. When I click on ok, I get a
subsequent error message that says 'and.xls' could not be found. Click ok
again and get another message that says
'Settings/mylastname_myfirstname/Desktop/Nine-box.xls' could not be found.
Finally, I click ok again and get the last message which states 'grid.xls'
could not be found. Click ok one more time and Excel opens to a blank and
new spreadsheet.

How to reinstate Excel's ability to open files with spaces
in their name/path by double clicking:

1. Have Excel correct it

1. Choose start (Start button), Run, type:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\EXCEL.EXE" /Regserver

(quotes mandatory, change the path to match your situation)

2. Click OK

2. Do it yourself

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Choose from its menu: View, Options. (or View / Folder Options in Windows
98)
3. Select the File Types tab
4. Scroll to Microsoft Excel Worksheet
5. Click Edit
6. Select the OPEN entry (it should be highlighted (bolded)
7. Click Edit and check that the fields are set as follows:
a) Application used: should be EXCEL.EXE, loaded from the correct directory
b) Use DDE should be checked
c) The DDE message should be (exactly): [Open("%1")]
d) Application should be: excel
e) DDE Application not running should be empty
f) Topic should be: system
8. Click OK
9. Click Close
10. If you wish to double-click other Excel file types, e.g. template
(xlt) or workspace (xlw), select the appropriate type in the File Types
tab and repeat from step (5)

For the XLVIEWER:

- Use DDE turned OFF
- Command line: "c:\program files\xlview\xlview.exe" "%1"

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com
Member of:
Professional Office Developer Association
www.proofficedev.com

 

[astrope1]

Thanks Jan.

That sort of worked. I still get all the error messages, but when I click
one last time, the file opens. Any other thoughts on getting rid of that? I
guess I can live with it if I have to.

 

[Jan Karel Pieterse]

Hi Astrope1,

That sort of worked. I still get all the error messages, but when I click
one last time, the file opens. Any other thoughts on getting rid of that? I
guess I can live with it if I have to.

Which method did you use; the regserver one?

Anyway, try doing the sequence twice: first time, use unregserver and then do
regserver.

Next thing to look for is if "Ignore other applications" is checked in Tools,
Options, general tab.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com
Member of:
Professional Office Developer Association
www.proofficedev.com

 

[Ken Wright]

Hi Jan, hope all is well with you and yours . Was going to come in with
the "Ignore other apps" option, but the OP had stated that he got the same
issue when opening saved files from the hardrive, so figured his issue lay
elsewhere.

Regards
Ken........................

 

[Jan Karel Pieterse]

Hi Ken,

Hi Jan, hope all is well with you and yours

Quite so! Business is crazy, so my front-end hasn't an inkling of what my
rear-end is doing <g>.

Thanks for asking.
And you?

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com
Member of:
Professional Office Developer Association
www.proofficedev.com

 

[Ken Wright]

LOL - Not bad, though work is about to go nuts for me whilst we go into the
closing stages of chasing a pretty large bid. Still, can't complain

Regards
Ken.....................

 

[rldad2650]

It appears to be problem in the new Office Security Update. I backed out the
new Security Update for Excel through the Control Panel Add/Delete program
and that did the trick. I hope it works for you and all the others.