Excel 2003 - Grey Screen

Question

I am having trouble using Excel 2003.  It worked fine for years so I'm not sure what changed.  Now whenever I click on an Excel file it brings up an empty screen. All the menus and tool bars show, but the screen is grey.  The only way I can open a file is by going into the File Menu and using the drop down bar which shows the last 4 files opened.  If the file I want isn't there I'm out of luck. Can you help?

Thanks

P.S. I'm using XP

Answer 1

Ok, one real quick thing to check just in case...if you hold down the Control Key and then hit F10, do you get a spreadsheet back?  If that's not it, are you able to open files through the File Open Dialog box (or is that when you're getting the gray sheet)?

Answer 2

Thanks for the reply.  No error boxes or alerts.  The problem happens on any excel file I click on, but the files do open if I use the File>Open process which I didn't know before, so that's great.  I'm operating on XP and using MS Office 2003.

Answer 3

Thanks. Unfortunately that didn't work, but I can open thru the File Open Dialog Box which is better than nothing.

Answer 4

Are you getting any alert or error boxes when you open these files?

Is any spread sheet open (just greyed out) or is the application wiindow just empty?

Does this happen on any or all files or justd some specific files?

Are you able to use the FILE>OPEN process to navigate to files and open them through there?

Have you made any changes to your system or software around the time this started?  Added new programs or add-ins? Received any updates around the time this started?

What operating system are you running?

Answer 5

Hi mldupuis,

Try following steps in the Microsoft article 919196:

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919196

Use the fix it tool in the article if you find the steps hard to follow