When I close Excel, an empty Excel window opens again.

Question

I recently upgraded from Excel 2007 to the 2021 version and since then, every time I use Excel and close it after saving, an empty Excel window automatically opens again. I have tried updating and reinstalling Excel, but the problem persists. I am wondering how to resolve this issue.

Answer 1

Hi @재경 이

Does this issue occur after editing and saving workbooks in all formats, such as .xlsx?

It's recommend to run Excel in Safe Mode to troubleshoot startup items and COM add-ins.

• Please press Win + R, enter excel /safe in Run dialog.
• You may edit, save and close the workbook to have a check.

If this issue does not occur with safe mode:

• Please go to File > Options > Add-ins > Manage COM Add-ins, click Go > Clear the check boxes for any enabled COM add-ins, select OK.
• Go to C:\Users<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART, move the file or folder to other location if there is.

If this issue still reproduced under Excel safe mode:

• In Excel, go to File > Options > Advanced > General section, uncheck Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) > Click OK.
• I suggest you run OffScrub07.vbs to cleanup Office 2007 thoroughly. And run OffScrubc2r.vbs to uninstall Office 2021 completely. Then restart machine, re-install Office 2021. (Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the links may changed without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. You may go to the webpage, click Raw, right-click the page to Save as a script, and then move the '.txt' extension name to run.)
• Create a new Windows administrator account to check this issue.

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Answer 2

Are you by any chance using a Mac. If so, that's the way it is. Where the PC version show a greyed-out window without the grid, Mac always shows an empty workbook when you start up the program or close the last active workbook. Can't tell if that was the same in 2007 as I didn't have a Mac back then.