# What did I do to Excel? Opening file problems **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753 "2010-01-05T15:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/1 "2010-01-05T15:30:52Z")
I’m pretty sure my problem stems from some ‘advice’ someone gave me to speed up opening Excel files. I went to Control Panel\>Folder Options\>File Types, then found .xls and changed something in the Advanced tab, next to **Open**. Now, if I find a file in my recent files list, and try to open it without Excel already being open, I get a message that says it can’t be found. BUT, if I’m already in Excel and do the same, it opens right up. What’s the default setting I need to put back in to File Types to make things right again? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/2 "2010-01-05T15:36:17Z")
What operating system, what version of Excel? ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/3 "2010-01-05T15:41:49Z")
Windows XP - Excel 2003, Service Pack 3 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/4 "2010-01-05T15:45:54Z")
I use XP Tablet, which is equivalent to XP Pro, and Office 2007. However, settings should be same/similar. [Here is a link to a screenshot](http://www.seiglefamily.com/data/fileoptions.bmp)(about 1.5M .bmp file) of what my setting for XLS files look like under Control Panel, File Options, and edit window for the Open action. Your path to the executable may not be exactly the same, but in general your settings should probably look like this. To be on the safe side, I suggest reporting back to us how your settings differ from mine and we can determine next steps. Blindly changing your settings to match mine may not do what you want. But I have never updated this so these are my default settings. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/5 "2010-01-05T16:03:45Z")
This: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE” %1 is in the Edit box, “Use DDE” is checked, but I have no DDE message. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/6 "2010-01-05T17:04:11Z")
I am still not sure what your problem is but I tried removing the DDE message from my configuration and started having problems. I started getting a series of error messages from Excel that files are not found, although the click did open Excel. To make a long story short, I restored the DDE message, and then in the “application used to perform action” box I put double quotes around the %1. I don’t know if either of these will fix your specific problem but it may be worth a try, since they are easily reversed. ---
**Author:** ![JimNightshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jimnightshade/32/3354_2.png) [@JimNightshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimNightshade)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/7 "2010-01-06T13:58:05Z")
In Excel: Tools \>\> Options On the General tab, is “ignore other applications” checked? If so try unchecking it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-excel-opening-file-problems/523753/8 "2010-01-06T14:41:22Z")
I don’t think it’s Excel you’ve changed, just the Windows file association. Try resetting like this: > [@](#): > > If you double-click a file in Windows and it opens in the wrong software program, follow these steps to choose the program you would prefer that file use. You can change this setting for an individual file, or you can tell Windows to open all files of that same type in the software program you choose. > > Open the folder that contains the file you want to change. > > Right-click the file that you want to change, and then, depending on the type of file, either click Open With or point to Open With and then click Choose Default Program. > > Click the program that you want to use to open this file. > > Do one of the following: > > If you want all files of that type to open in the same software program, select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box, and then click OK. > > If you want only that file to open in the software program this one time, clear the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box, and then click OK.